Aviation Week & Space Technology
October 6, 2003
Pg. 54
Maritime Predator
General Atomics speeds efforts to design a longer range UAV as a Navy
unmanned maritime patrol aircraft
By David A. Fulghum, Rancho Bernardo, Calif
.
The competition for an unmanned maritime surveillance aircraft is
intensifying with a new concept from the workshops of General Atomics that
features two days' endurance at altitudes up to 50,000 ft.
The turboprop design has been dubbed the Predator B-ER, for extended range.
It adds an 86-ft. wing from the Altair research aircraft and conformal fuel
tanks to the original Predator B airframe.
The program is progressing quickly because the company's resources have been
refocused on the Navy's Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) program to
the point that the Predator C--a next-generation, jet UAV designed to
survive in higher threat areas--has had its rollout date pushed back from
2004 to early 2005.
A draft requirements document has been released, and a draft request for
proposals for the BAMS program is due out this fall. Predator's major BAMS
competitor, so far, is a version of Northrop Grumman's Global Hawk with
maritime radar. A program award is to follow sometime in 2004.
The additional 20 ft. in wingspan increases performance considerably. The
sensor payload has been increased by 300 lb. to a total of 1,150. The extra
weight comes from an exterior-mounted maritime radar. The radar is placed on
a pylon that extends downward from the point that the wings meet the
fuselage. The radar has yet to be selected, but company officials say a
200-naut.-mi. range will be required, as will surface search, synthetic
aperture radar and inverse-SAR modes. The aircraft will still carry an
electro-optical and infrared camera sensor ball in the nose, as well as a
satellite communications antenna.
An additional 2,700 lb. could be carried externally by the ER model. Weapons
would likely be the first choice. But the external wing hard points have
power and control connections; as a result, optional wing pods are part of
the future payload growth plan.
Internal fuel capacity jumps to 6,000 lb. from 4,000 lb. with saddlebag fuel
tanks over the wing roots that give the Predator-ER a distinct hump-backed
look. In addition, transit speed increases to 250 kt. (with an on-station
170-kt. cruise speed). The resulting endurance is estimated at about 48 hr.
compared with 32 hr. for the Predator B production aircraft now being
delivered to USAF.
In other associated efforts, the Navy will operate a pair of Predator As in
Alaska this winter, and a Predator B will serve with the Coast Guard in the
spring to gather operational experience in such diverse missions as homeland
defense, fisheries monitoring and surveillance of foreign shipping.
The U.S. Air Force is expected to expand its UAV force structure to include
three Predator A squadrons and two or three Predator B squadrons. In combat,
a mixed group of As and Bs would likely operate from the same forward site.
"In the low-threat areas the Predators [A models] will do a fine job," said
Thomas Cassidy, president and CEO of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems.
"In elevated threat areas, I think Predator B would be used. You would use
it for initial detection [missions], and if you wanted to carry a lot of
heavy weapons. I think there's a really good synergy between the two
airplanes." The Predator C version is being designed for the high end of the
moderate-threat environment. "We're not playing in the jet UCAV role," he
said. "We are maintaining a very high level of endurance and persistence in
all the airplanes we build. We try to get airplanes out there quickly that
are reliable and perform well in combat."
Other future missions include the probability of air-to-air combat and
air-to-ground strike with additional weapons. Company analysts contend the
Predator B can carry the antenna array needed for operation of the
long-range, fire-and-forget AIM-120 Amraam air-to-air missile and AIM-9X.
For strike, the 500-lb. JDAM and 220-lb. small-diameter bomb are being
considered for adaptation to the Predator B.
General Atomics' plans call for U.S. military production of 22 Predator As
and nine Predator Bs in 2003, 10 As and 4-6 Bs in 2004, followed by a
steady-state production of seven As per year beginning in 2005. The company
is looking for a regional partner to help in offering the Predator B to the
Australian government for patrol of the country's sparsely settled northern
regions where drug running and smuggling of illegal immigrants are a
concern.