In the coming weeks, the Navy is expected to issue a draft request for proposal (RFP) for its Small Tactical Unmanned Air System (STUAS) to fill a critical gap identified by the Marine Corps for an organic tactical system to enhance situational awareness.
Currently, the Marine Corps has a service contract for the Boeing [BA]-Insitu ScanEagle UAS unmanned air vehicle (UAV). The Marine Corps is looking to own its own system, that it refers to as Tier II UAS, and have sailors and Marines operate it, according to the Navy.
The Navy and Marine Corps have agreed that they will jointly pursue a system that will meet their respective STUAS and Tier II UAS requirements. The Marines want a long- endurance unmanned aircraft to perform surveillance and reconnaissance missions to support the division, regiment and battalion levels (Defense Daily, July 11).
One company looking to provide the services with a new system is Raytheon [RTN], which has an exclusive teaming agreement with Swift Engineering for this competition, Gary Letterman, Raytheon’s senior manager for business development advanced programs, told sister publication Defense Daily in a recent interview.
Other companies expected to submit bids once the RFP hits the street include Northrop Grumman [NOC], which was once teamed with Swift Engineering, and Boeing.
“The reason we picked Swift was because of the aircraft they have,” Letterman said. “It’s a blended wing aircraft. It’s revolutionary, but has certain attributes that are certainly very attractive for us…added endurance, added payload.”
Of course there is always a tradeoff, Letterman added. For example, the UAS could be made to fly for 20 hours, but then it would have to be loaded up with fuel which, in turn, impacts payload capability.
“Or you can load it up with a whole lot of payload and a little bit of fuel, so your endurance goes down [but] you get more payload,” Letterman said.
Raytheon is looking at a UAS that could provide roughly 15 hours endurance with a 30-pound payload, he noted.
What Raytheon brings to the table is both aircraft and mission system integration, Letterman said.
Additionally, the company is making its STUAS bid a “One Raytheon” business arrangement, or competition, drawing on various parts of the company to do a complete system integration job, he added.
Letterman said the STUAS program turned to Integrated Defense Systems (IDS) for support because they have done work for SSDS (ship self-defense system); to Network Centric Systems (NCS) because they’ve done a tactical control station, multiple vehicle control station, and Intelligence Information Systems potentially for use of their radio and experience in radio transmission.
“One other area in Raytheon that we are working with is called Raytheon Technical Services Co. The Marine Corps more recently has indicated they would like a system for training and or possibly for deployment. They would like to do that under either a lease arrangement or fee-for-services…flight hour-for-services kind of thing,” Letterman said.
“Quite candidly Raytheon Tucson doesn’t do contracting like that. We are more into the traditional acquisition system. But Raytheon Technical Services Co., that’s exactly what they do,” Letterman added. “So we asked them to come onboard with us so that they can also take a look at not only how you do the contract, but if we have to provide personnel, whether it be in the training facility or whether it be outside of the continental U.S. They have the capability and experience to do those kinds of things.”
The Navy and Marine Corps had originally intended to hold two competitions, Letterman said. Increment 0 was to be specifically for an aircraft competition–a plane that could fly a payload and be able to dump information and have the command and control structure. Increment 1 was to be where some of the integration work would begin, he added.
“We, among other industry people, went in and said we are going to strongly recommend that you don’t hold multiple competitions. Let’s do it all at once and have threshold and objective requirements,” Letterman said. “Let industry, who understands what the technologies are, come in and bid to somewhere in that broadband of threshold to objective requirements. The Navy and Marine Corps basically agreed to that. They had to go back and rewrite the RFP.”
After the issuance of the draft RFP this month, the final RFP is expected to be released in June.
“We hope to get the final RFP out this summer for a competitive award in March of ’09. That’s our goal,” Capt. Paul Morgan, Navy and Marine Corps STUAS Program Manager, told sister publication Defense Daily in an interview last week.
Morgan and his staff were planning to brief Lt. Gen. George Trautman, Marine Corps deputy commandant for aviation, this week on the draft RFP. Morgan anticipated the draft RFP would go out sooner after the briefing.
A complete STUAS system will consist of multiple aircraft, a launch and recovery unit and a ground control station, Letterman said.
The Marine Corps is looking for something to give them 24/7 coverage, he added.
“If you can go out and fly two aircraft at let’s say 15 hours of endurance, then I can cover a 24-hour period, and I have a third aircraft sitting back in the hangar, going through maintenance, upkeep, or getting ready to go fly its mission,” Letterman said. “If I have an aircraft that only flies, for example, 12 hours, and I still have a 24/7 requirement, then I may have to have four aircraft per system. We’re planning on only having three, so it is three aircraft, a launch and recovery unit, and also the ground control station. That is a system.”
Raytheon also partnered with New Hampshire-based Optical Alchemy, for the STUAS payload.
The reason Raytheon partnered with Optical Alchemy is that they produce a very capable EO/IR (electro Optical/ InfraRed) sensor, Letterman said.
“The first mission capable package that we want to put into this airframe is for ISR (intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance),” he added.
Optical Alchemy’s sensors are known for being ultralight, John Scannell, president and chief operating officer, told Defense Daily in the same interview.”It is only six inches and 12 pounds. We are doing things only a 50- to 60-pound sensor would be doing,” he said. “It has the ability to do EO/IR and simultaneously you can change over on the fly between day/night operations. That allows us to stay up in theater.”
Optical Alchemy focuses on the six to eight inch niche market for sensors, Scannell said. “Few people are in the six- to eight-inch [market]. The company has been around for six years, and we have transitioned into a LRIP (low rate initial production) mode approximately two years ago.”
Because the sensors are small and light, Optical Alchemy has a significant advantage over the competition, Scannell said.”We are only 12 pounds. That allows the platforms to stay up significantly longer. It also allows us to couple them with other sensors. And because it is only 12 pounds, you can put two turrets [on the UAS]. [You] can not only get longer endurance but you can get multi-mission.
“One of the things the Marine Corps is saying, they want to be flexible, they want to be multi mission capable, they don’t want to be locked into one scenario,” Scannell added.
Additionally, Raytheon wants to incorporate a targeting aspect to the UAS.
Optical Alchemy is working on its sensor package so that Raytheon can have it all combined in one payload, Letterman noted. The Marine Corps has also expressed an interest in putting a data link in their Tier II UAS. Letterman said that would enable the service to fly two systems, maybe one at a distance of 50 to 75 miles and the other at mid-term distance to be able to transmit data back and forth. “So we are looking real hard at what kinds of relay packages and radio packages we can put into this.”