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interestingly, "The Air Force set a target of under $3 million per unit." ...:
Skunk Works Sees Big Opportunity For ‘Attritable’ UAVs
Aug 31, 2017
Skunk Works Sees Big Opportunity For ‘Attritable’ UAVs
Aug 31, 2017
Skunk Works is continuing to invest in low-cost attritable UAV platforms that could someday fly operations alongside manned fighters like the .
Despite missing out on a key demonstration program with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), won by Kratos in 2015, Lockheed sees multiple opportunities for its platforms.
The company has been working over the past decade to mature autonomous flight control systems that enable cooperative teaming between unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) and manned warplanes. The company recently demonstrated this know-how through a series of “Have Raider” technology demonstrations supported by AFRL, using a surrogate .
The Skunk Works Low-Cost Attritable Aircraft team, led by program manager Joe Pokora, has also been designing optionally reusable airframes that would incorporate that Have Raider technology. The firm’s designs would leverage advanced manufacturing techniques and different materials to keep cost low. The Air Force set a target of under $3 million per unit.
Pokora says in a written statement that the company is specifically focused on moderate to high subsonic designs powered by efficient turbofan engines. The mission range of these aircraft exceeds 2,500 mi., he adds.
The company’s aircraft concepts are broadly described as “attritable aircraft.” They are built to fly multiple times, but cheap enough to launch on one-way suicide missions, if required. Military operators wouldn’t be too concerned if one or two were shot down conducting a critical surveillance or strike mission inside hostile enemy airspace.
“We have developed multiple attritable aircraft designs, and remain focused on providing an inexpensive, optionally reusable, end-to-end solution to the warfighter,” Pokora says. “We don’t believe the answer lies within a single platform, but with a team of unmanned air vehicles working alongside other air, ground and space systems in the battlespace.”
An artists rendering of one concept provided to Aviation Week shows a sleek airframe with a conventional, moderately swept wing and V-tail. The stealthy design has a single rear-mounted turbofan engine and high, shallow air intake.
The company has not said whether the aircraft has landing gear to take off and land from normal runways or is rail-launched using a booster rocket with parachute recovery.
The engine’s exhaust nozzle is not depicted, probably to avoid giving away sensitive stealth characteristics. The aircraft clearly has an internal payload bay for weapons or sensors.
The aircraft could either fly its own missions or collaborate autonomously as part of the larger strike package of manned and unmanned warplanes via radio datalinks. Lockheed is especially interested in developing a loyal wingman aircraft that could operate alongside the F-35 Lightning II.
California-based Kratos Defense & Security Solutions has become the defacto industry leader in this field after beating six other industry teams in July 2015 to win AFRL’s Low-Cost Attritable Strike Demonstration program. Under that contract, Kratos will develop, build and fly the XQ-58A Valkyrie. The company’s UTAP-22 Mako unmanned wingman has also been participating in U.S. military exercises.
But Lockheed says it is still in the game, as demonstrated by its Have Raider flights with the F-16 in Palmdale, California. The most recent Have Raider II experiment, revealed by Lockheed in April, demonstrated significant improvements in autonomous flight algorithms. The F-16 was able to rapidly, autonomously react and adapt to unforeseen obstacles and threats while still completing its mock mission.
Many services and organizations within the U.S. have expressed interest in attritable aircraft, not just the Air Force. DARPA and the Navy have also been tinkering with their own concepts.
Lockheed sees “multiple opportunities,” but it is a crowded market. Lockheed doesn’t just face stiff competition from Kratos; , Aurora Flight Sciences and have been working with AFRL on their own attritable aircraft concepts through small study contracts.
Lockheed is trying to distinguish itself by touting its modern, low-cost manufacturing techniques and use of government-supported open system architecture standards.
“The OSA architecture also allows us to take advantage of advances in commercial computing; reducing cost and schedule while expanding the vehicle’s capability,” Pokora says. “While the airframe cost is what is often focused on, Skunk Works remains focused on the affordability of the end-to-end solution. A low-cost airframe is only part of the solution, but to keep costs low it also needs to be cost effective to operate.”
Lockheed's concept for an optionally reusable, low-cost unmanned combat air vehicle. The aircraft is designed to fly collaboratively with manned jets or on its own missions, with a range of more than 2,500 mi.
