Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) hold the promise of dramatically changing the nature of naval warfare in the coming decades. Significantly, the U.S. Navy has been a leader in the UAV field, operating the drone antisubmarine helicopter (DASH) from its warships in the 1960s. It again led U.S. military development of UAVs in the 1980s with procurement of the Pioneer reconnaissance drone, derived from the highly successful Israeli Mistaff III. That "bird" was flown by the Army and Marine Corps as well as the Navy, and has seen extensive combat service since the 1991 Gulf War. It remains in service today in large numbers only with the Corps, which recently has been funded by Congress to update its Pioneer systems.
The Navy is seeking to identify the next generation of UAVs to support naval operations. The Office of the Chief of Naval Operations (N78) has developed a "road map" for future development, and these UAVs will be key components of the Navy's vision of ForceNet or C4ISR (command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance) network and for specific combat roles. Unfortunately, the Navy lagged in developing such a plan and has delayed pursuing a successor to the important RQ-2 Pioneer Tactical T-UAV.
Three categories of UAVs are being proposed:
Long-dwell standoff ISR: Known by the term broad-area maritime surveillance (BAMS), this UAV could cover ocean or littoral areas from high altitudes for long periods (days or weeks). The BAMS would provide surveillance and reconnaissance, communications relay, and signals intelligence. Its sensors would be radar, infrared, and electro-optical systems. Communications relay could include line-of-sight communications for ships and aircraft, or linking naval and ground forces with satellites. The BAMS vehicle, flying above cloud cover, might employ laser communications to a satellite, providing significantly increased bandwidth, and then relay communications with air, surface, and submarine forces using radio frequencies. The large BAMS vehicle would require land basing.
As recently demonstrated by the Air Force's RQ-4 Global Hawk, such performance is feasible in exercises and operational situations. The Global Hawk has a demonstrated loiter of 24 hours at a range of 6,000 miles, a ceiling of 65,000 feet, and a large payload. Its speed of 350 knots gives it a respectable reaction time. An improved variant is under development.
A Global Hawk maritime demonstration is planned with two of the Northrop Grumman-built vehicles being acquired in fiscal year 2003 and modified for maritime ISR missions. Unfortunately, the two Global Hawks will not be delivered until at least fiscal 2005, with tests, demonstrations, and exercises planned through fiscal 2009. There are other potential candidates for the BAMS vehicle, including the giant, high-flying Helios system; however, at this stage, Global Hawk remains the obvious candidate.
Penetrating surveillance, suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD), strike: These missions will be carried out by naval unmanned combat air vehicles (UCAV-Ns). The UCAV-N is envisioned as a multimission vehicle that can undertake ISR, strike, and SEAD missions in a hostile environment. The Navy has initial emphasis on the ISR role, where target identification and precise location capability are considered the best leverages for Navy investment. Because the UCAV-N will operate in high-threat areas, it will be a low-observable (stealth) aircraft. This vehicle could be carrier-based.
The Navy is working on the UCAV-N with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the Air Force, with several benefits expected to accrue from a joint program. Obviously, the problem of such a joint effort—with the Air Force already flying the Boeing X-45 demonstration vehicle—is compatibility with the maritime/shipboard environment.
The Navy plans to award contracts to two firms in fiscal year 2003 to produce carrier-capable UCAV-N demonstrators. The program is expected to produce an operational UCAV-N capability about 2015.
Tactical surveillance and targeting: This T-UAV is a successor to the current Pioneer UAV employed by the Marine Corps at battalion level and by the Navy at the carrier strike group and expeditionary strike group levels. The T-UAV could be used over sea and land, and would be particularly important to the networked operations of the planned littoral combat ship. Like the Pioneer, the new T-UAV would be land- and sea- based.
At this time the Navy considers the Northrop Grumman RQ-8A Fire Scout as its next-generation T-UAV. But Fire Scout has been a controversial program, at one point rejected by the Navy as unsuitable. It is a rotary-wing vehicle, which introduces certain stealth and other problems to the system.
Significantly, the U.S. Coast Guard recently selected Bell Helicopter Textron's Eagle Eye, a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft that employs the tilt-wing/nacelle technology of the firm's XV-15 and V-22 Osprey aircraft. The Marine Corps is reported to be interested in the Eagle Eye for the T-UAV role, and some Navy officers have expressed a preference for that vehicle over the Fire Scout. In addition, the Corps operates several smaller T-UAVs, with several ongoing replacement programs under way.
The Navy has developed a broad, extensive road map for unmanned aerial vehicles. Unfortunately, delays, lack of interest, and inattention by the aviation community have cost the Navy its lead in this increasingly important area of naval operations.
Mr. Polmar is the author of Ships and Aircraft of the U.S. Fleet.