Tugging platform
Russia, which was once the leader in the field of unmanned aerial vehicles, today has seriously lagged behind in the development and application of UAVs. The gap is great, it is difficult to overcome.
Unmanned models in Russia, of course, are. For example, the devices of the Izhevsk company ZALA AERO GROUP, Enix CJSC, Horizont OJSC, which, together with the Austrian Shibel (Schiebel), launched the production of Horizon Air S-100 UAVs based on drone S-100 "Kamkopter" (Camcopter) developed by "Shibel".
These are models intended for conducting reconnaissance. Heavy UAVs, designed for the installation of weapons, at various times tried to develop the company "Sukhoi" and the RSK "MiG", but did not make headway in this matter due to the lack of government order and, accordingly, funding. Now these two classes of devices are being developed under Sukhoi government contracts with the participation of RSK MiG and Transas in partnership with the Kazan Falcon OKB. The results of these works have not been announced so far.
Intelligence or shock?
Meanwhile, in leading countries of the world drones with aviation weapons are increasingly being used in real military operations. Even China demonstrates its own developments in this area at military parades and international salons. Recently, defense ministers of several European countries agreed to conduct a study on the possibility of creating a pan-European medium-altitude long-range UAV of the MALE type (Medium-Altitude Long-Endurance) based on existing national projects.
“F-35 will surely be the last manned fighter that the US Navy buys and exploits”
But, of course, the United States advanced the furthest in this area. American aircraft-type drones take off and land on the deck of an aircraft carrier by analogy with fighter jets, and the experienced X-47B drone of the aircraft has already made autonomous refueling in the air.
Now the US Department of Defense plans to organize a competition for the creation of the first combat deck UAV, which the Navy intends to include in the advanced integrated combat management system IF (Integrated Fires).
The request of the organizers of the upcoming tender for the development of the UCLASS (Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance Strike) unmanned reconnaissance and shock apparatus is expected in the next few months, but the US Navy only at the last moment decided which specialization — reconnaissance or shock — should become the main one.
Just a few months before the UCLASS requirements were published, a number of senior US Navy officials began to treat this UAV as a surveillance, reconnaissance and information gathering (NRSI) platform, endowed with certain shock capabilities. In April of this year, Rear Admiral Mark Darra, executive director of unmanned aircraft and strike weapons programs of the US Navy, described the UCLASS device as a platform with combined capabilities of NRSI and target destruction. “The main payload is to perform observation, reconnaissance, and information gathering tasks, but shock capabilities will also be provided,” he said at the annual conference of the Association of High-Precision Arms Manufacturers and Operators in the city of Springfield, Virginia. In addition, Darra said that his management continues to work on the deck and ground components of the system, while the Navy all summer will conduct an assessment of the capabilities of UCLASS. Only after that, he noted, "we will be ready to move quickly with the implementation of the program."
All this changed for the better the attitude to the program of legislators, as well as some of its critics who put pressure on the Navy, forcing UCLASS to return to the original status of a deep penetration strike platform.
A few months left before the opening of the tender for the UCLASS program. Recently, government officials said that the competition for the construction of a new UAV will start in the 2016 fiscal year - almost two years later than planned. Despite this, the Navy still expects that the device will be ready for adoption at the beginning of the 2020-s.
US Navy Minister Ray Mabus defended plans for UCLASS medium capabilities in May, but said that this new platform would serve as a bridge to the transition to the UAV, which would replace the deck version of the F-35 "Lightning 2" company. Martin "(Lockheed Martin). He noted that he was a supporter of a strike aircraft capable of overcoming the air defense system, and the UCLASS apparatus would be brought to such a level.
Thus, UCLASS will eventually cease to play the role of an intermediate option, which allows the Navy to carry out operations with the use of deck UAVs. Mabus said that the platform should become a full-scale autonomous attack aircraft, which is able to function in the difficult conditions of countering the enemy’s air defenses. The question of when UCLASS can be brought to such a state remains open.
Initial plans
Initially, UCLASS was conceived as an unobtrusive partner of a strike deck aircraft that hits targets in the deep rear of heavily protected airspace. It was also assumed that this UAV will provide observation, reconnaissance, information gathering, communication and be able to refuel in the air in order to increase the duration of non-stop flight.
The program appeared after the completion of the project J-UCAS (Joint Unmanned Combat Air System). Candidates for the J-UCAS contract were Boeing X-45 and Northrop Grumman X-47. However, in 2011, the UCLASS version of the deck strike aircraft began to develop. This was due to the fact that the United States Department of Defense's Joint Security Control Board, headed by the new Vice-Chairman, Admiral James Winnfield, began to direct the Navy's research towards a more accessible concept. When US President Barack Obama signed the 2011 Budget Control Act of the Year, the newly approved program costs reflected these adjustments. Nevertheless, the opposition faction inside the Pentagon, together with the militant lawmakers, continued to support the idea of a low-profile, UCLASS apparatus equipped with powerful weapons.
The program was officially launched in 2013 by issuing four contracts for conducting preliminary R & D to Boeing, General Atomiks (General Atomix), Lockheed Martin and Northop Grumman. Each did not exceed 500 million dollars. The main characteristics asked at that time still reflected the need of the Navy for an autonomous deck-based unmanned combat vehicle capable of providing aircraft-assaulting connections with reconnaissance data and endowed with limited strike capabilities. It was assumed that at least 450 from 1400 kilograms of its payload will be weapon class "air-surface".
In August, Deputy Minister of Defense Robert Wark, co-author of the White Paper on Defense-2014, who favored the UCLASS variant with powerful weapons, reviewed the 2008 program. It was supposed that this would be the last stage of evaluation by the Ministry of Defense, however, the corresponding request to the tender has not yet been published.
Waiting for the tender
“UCLASS is now undergoing a special assessment of opportunities, and we are expecting results at the end of 2015 of the year,” Rear Admiral Mark Darra told 14 on April at the Sea-Air-to-Space exposition of the Naval League in National Harbor, Maryland. According to Darr, the tender is scheduled to be announced in the 2016 fiscal year, and the UAVs will be deployed in service at the beginning of the 2020s.
The admiral informed that two main questions still remain unanswered - about the ability of UCLASS devices to perform the tasks of blocking access and blocking individual A2 / AD zones (anti-access / area denial), as well as about the types of targets that he can hit. However, Darra lowered the chances of creating an unmanned platform with heavy weapons. “The times when the platform was planned, starting from an aircraft carrier with a range over 2000 kilometers and a mass of ammunition above 2000 kilograms, passed. “We have other systems that can do this kind of work,” he stressed. “This is called a promising integrated US Navy IF combat system.”
The admiral added that the naval forces will continue to increase the requirements for autonomy until artificial intelligence can work on the same principle as man. As an example, Darra cited an apparatus that needs to make a decision about conducting refueling in the air. This is a very difficult task with a number of variables that are not calculated by the computer.
22 of May of this year, the Navy successfully demonstrated fully autonomous refueling in the air of the Unrop X-47B of the Northrop Grumman UCAS-D unmanned Combat Air System (Unmonned Combat Air System).
“The X-47B test confirms the ability of prospective UAVs to perform standard tasks such as air refueling and seamlessly work with manned aircraft as part of an aircraft carrier wing,” said Captain Bo Duarte, program manager for the naval forces in this area.
X-47B was the first UAV aircraft scheme, operating from the aircraft carrier by analogy with manned aircraft. For the first time, X-47B made an ejection launch of 14 on May 2013 of the year from the atomic aircraft carrier CVN-77 “George Herbert Bush” (USS George HW Bush) of “Nimitz” class (Nimitz). May 17 UCAS-D completed nine landings with an immediate takeoff after touching a moving aircraft carrier on the deck. 10 July 2013 of the year X-47B flew from the US Naval Air Base Patuxent River and produced the first in stories UAV landing using aerofinishers.
The Navy said they were ready to close the UCAS-D program, in accordance with which all the tasks were performed, but some lawmakers insist on continuing to use this system. Subsequent research may be devoted to the autonomous selection of weapons, involves the leadership of the Navy, as well as the integration of UAVs in the wing of the carrier aircraft both on board and in operations.
Two directions of development
The Navy considers two possible directions for the development of the UCLASS apparatus. The first involves the creation of a reconnaissance and strike platform using mostly already developed technologies. According to the forecast of the weekly Janes Defense Weekly, the cost of R & D when choosing this option will be about a billion dollars. The final cost of the system is likely to be at the level of 25 million dollars. At the same time, if the Navy acquires for half of the existing 10 aircraft carriers one squadron each, including 6 – 12 devices, production costs can be reduced to the level of 0,9 – 1,8 billion dollars.
The second direction involves the creation of an unobtrusive UAV, twice the mass of weapons and the range of action manned shock platform. In this case, R & D costs can reach 10 billions of dollars, while the unit cost is 200 – 300 million dollars, including engines, and the production cost of 36 – 72 UAVs will be 7,2 – 14,4 billion dollars.
When choosing a less expensive platform, experts call General Atomics the most likely bidder for the contract. If the Navy follows the path of an unobtrusive UAV equipped with powerful weapons, the proposals of the other three candidates will probably be suitable. The work performed by Northrop Grumman under the X-47В program, of course, positions it as a favorite to receive a contract. And although the Navy stressed that the UCLASS program requires new development, undoubtedly, the autonomy technologies demonstrated by X-47В will be incorporated into the requirements, and Northrop's competencies gained in this area will help the company.
“Boeing” meanwhile, previously discussed plans to participate in the competitive struggle with the new apparatus, which includes Phantom Ray’s X-45C technology. Two test flights of this platform were funded by the company in 2011. “We tested a lot of opportunities during these flights that we wanted to explore,” said Dave Coopersmeath, vice president of Boeing Advanst Militar Air Air, a division of Boeing’s 2012. Since then, the company, however, has redirected funds to other projects.
Lockheed Martin is also developing promising technologies for participating in the UCLASS tender.
Last manned fighter
How can the Navy afford the second option with more complex UAVs, if now the Ministry of Defense is having financial problems? One of the budget articles of the Naval Forces in the aviation field is already a contender for a significant reduction in a very important period for the development of UCLASS. At the beginning of the year, the Navy announced plans to reduce purchases of the 5-generation F-35C carrier-based fighter by almost a third in accordance with the five-year FYDP defense program (Future Years Defense Program), which starts in 2016. The draft budget for the next fiscal year includes the purchase of four F-35Cs and an additional two, approved by congress at the end of 2014. Four more F-35C naval forces plan to purchase in 2017 year, and then increase the rate of purchases to 12 units by 2020 and get a total of only 38 fighters. Marine Corps plans include X-NUMX units F-83B.
Meanwhile, on the 2016 fiscal year, the Navy requested a budget of 800 million dollars for the purchase of new weapons used outside the enemy's air defense zone. The maximum plan for F-35C is 369 units. If this figure was confirmed during the fiscal year 2016 – 2022, 6,47 could save a billion dollars.
In April, US Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus ambiguously stated that the F-35 would almost certainly be the last manned fighter to be purchased and operated by the Navy, and unmanned systems, especially fully autonomous, should become the new norm in an increasingly wider range of areas.
The US Air Force, given the need to deal with emerging threats with limited funding and the high cost of the F-35 "Lightning-2" aircraft, are exploring the possibility of creating an 6-generation fighter. “It is not necessary that it will be single,” said the head of the combat aviation command of the US Air Force, General Mike Hostage. “If I can simply and effectively destroy the enemy, I will approve this project.” The air force is ready to accept intermediate risks and to direct part of the funds allocated for the modernization of combat aircraft to create a sample of the 6 generation.
This aviation complex will be based on indicators of stealth, speed and efficiency of the equipment achieved in the X-NUMX generation fighter F-5 and F-35 Raptor. He will have to interact with a promising long-range bomber LRSB (Long-Range Strike Bomber) and drones. The US Air Force may be developing weapons built on the principle of directional power transmission. Hostage noted the promise of these technologies and the successes achieved in this area. However, the general did not specify the technical details and did not report on the timing of the availability of samples of such weapons.
Ray Mabus announced the introduction of a new post as deputy assistant to the Navy for unmanned systems and the formation of control N99. According to him, it is necessary to coordinate and support all developments of unmanned vehicles operating under water, on water, over water and projecting their capabilities from sea to land. Until now, UAVs were subject to the management of the information superiority of the N2 / N6 Navy and were classified exclusively as reconnaissance platforms.
Expert opinion
Back in September, Pentagon high-ranking officials criticized the level of funding for the UCLASS tender, the opening of which was delayed. When asked why the Department of Defense still does not disclose the task, Frank Kendall, Deputy Minister of Defense for Procurement, Technology and Logistics, said that the whole thing was in determining the cost. “This is due to the uncertainty about our future budget and the problems of the feasibility of the project,” he said at a conference on defense in Washington. - We check positions which, probably, are not provided with the budget. The feasibility of the project is an important aspect for us now, and any new initiative must be very thoughtful. ” Before turning to industry for bids, officials want to be confident that the program’s intentions are real, Kendall added.
Nevertheless, congress auditors from the main budget and control department of the GAO (Government Accountability Office) in May accused the Pentagon of indecision on the development of tactical and technical requirements for UCLASS, arguing that the delay increases the risks of the program. The report says: “Continuing debates about what specialization should become the main one for UCLASS UAVs — reconnaissance with limited strike capabilities or, conversely, shock with limited intelligence capabilities, delay implementation of the program.”
The GAO management noted that many key stages of the implementation of the program, including the reasonable date of the first flight, have been postponed for several years. The Navy is at risk because the results achieved so far may become irrelevant, added to the GAO.
But although GAO’s concerns about the deferments and risks of the program are justified, the debate over the protracted requirements shows that the Navy is still refining its vision of deck-type UAVs. Thus, a thorough strategic assessment of the capabilities and role that a prospective UAV will play in the IF structure is a wise course. Current financial difficulties, in particular the continuing sequestration of the defense budget, doom programs to fierce competition. The Navy must convincingly state their arguments, especially if they rely on the low-profile UCLASS UAV with powerful weapons.
Unmanned models in Russia, of course, are. For example, the devices of the Izhevsk company ZALA AERO GROUP, Enix CJSC, Horizont OJSC, which, together with the Austrian Shibel (Schiebel), launched the production of Horizon Air S-100 UAVs based on drone S-100 "Kamkopter" (Camcopter) developed by "Shibel".
These are models intended for conducting reconnaissance. Heavy UAVs, designed for the installation of weapons, at various times tried to develop the company "Sukhoi" and the RSK "MiG", but did not make headway in this matter due to the lack of government order and, accordingly, funding. Now these two classes of devices are being developed under Sukhoi government contracts with the participation of RSK MiG and Transas in partnership with the Kazan Falcon OKB. The results of these works have not been announced so far.
Intelligence or shock?
Meanwhile, in leading countries of the world drones with aviation weapons are increasingly being used in real military operations. Even China demonstrates its own developments in this area at military parades and international salons. Recently, defense ministers of several European countries agreed to conduct a study on the possibility of creating a pan-European medium-altitude long-range UAV of the MALE type (Medium-Altitude Long-Endurance) based on existing national projects.
“F-35 will surely be the last manned fighter that the US Navy buys and exploits”
But, of course, the United States advanced the furthest in this area. American aircraft-type drones take off and land on the deck of an aircraft carrier by analogy with fighter jets, and the experienced X-47B drone of the aircraft has already made autonomous refueling in the air.
Now the US Department of Defense plans to organize a competition for the creation of the first combat deck UAV, which the Navy intends to include in the advanced integrated combat management system IF (Integrated Fires).
The request of the organizers of the upcoming tender for the development of the UCLASS (Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance Strike) unmanned reconnaissance and shock apparatus is expected in the next few months, but the US Navy only at the last moment decided which specialization — reconnaissance or shock — should become the main one.
Just a few months before the UCLASS requirements were published, a number of senior US Navy officials began to treat this UAV as a surveillance, reconnaissance and information gathering (NRSI) platform, endowed with certain shock capabilities. In April of this year, Rear Admiral Mark Darra, executive director of unmanned aircraft and strike weapons programs of the US Navy, described the UCLASS device as a platform with combined capabilities of NRSI and target destruction. “The main payload is to perform observation, reconnaissance, and information gathering tasks, but shock capabilities will also be provided,” he said at the annual conference of the Association of High-Precision Arms Manufacturers and Operators in the city of Springfield, Virginia. In addition, Darra said that his management continues to work on the deck and ground components of the system, while the Navy all summer will conduct an assessment of the capabilities of UCLASS. Only after that, he noted, "we will be ready to move quickly with the implementation of the program."
All this changed for the better the attitude to the program of legislators, as well as some of its critics who put pressure on the Navy, forcing UCLASS to return to the original status of a deep penetration strike platform.A few months left before the opening of the tender for the UCLASS program. Recently, government officials said that the competition for the construction of a new UAV will start in the 2016 fiscal year - almost two years later than planned. Despite this, the Navy still expects that the device will be ready for adoption at the beginning of the 2020-s.
US Navy Minister Ray Mabus defended plans for UCLASS medium capabilities in May, but said that this new platform would serve as a bridge to the transition to the UAV, which would replace the deck version of the F-35 "Lightning 2" company. Martin "(Lockheed Martin). He noted that he was a supporter of a strike aircraft capable of overcoming the air defense system, and the UCLASS apparatus would be brought to such a level.
Thus, UCLASS will eventually cease to play the role of an intermediate option, which allows the Navy to carry out operations with the use of deck UAVs. Mabus said that the platform should become a full-scale autonomous attack aircraft, which is able to function in the difficult conditions of countering the enemy’s air defenses. The question of when UCLASS can be brought to such a state remains open.
Initial plans
Initially, UCLASS was conceived as an unobtrusive partner of a strike deck aircraft that hits targets in the deep rear of heavily protected airspace. It was also assumed that this UAV will provide observation, reconnaissance, information gathering, communication and be able to refuel in the air in order to increase the duration of non-stop flight.
The program appeared after the completion of the project J-UCAS (Joint Unmanned Combat Air System). Candidates for the J-UCAS contract were Boeing X-45 and Northrop Grumman X-47. However, in 2011, the UCLASS version of the deck strike aircraft began to develop. This was due to the fact that the United States Department of Defense's Joint Security Control Board, headed by the new Vice-Chairman, Admiral James Winnfield, began to direct the Navy's research towards a more accessible concept. When US President Barack Obama signed the 2011 Budget Control Act of the Year, the newly approved program costs reflected these adjustments. Nevertheless, the opposition faction inside the Pentagon, together with the militant lawmakers, continued to support the idea of a low-profile, UCLASS apparatus equipped with powerful weapons.
The program was officially launched in 2013 by issuing four contracts for conducting preliminary R & D to Boeing, General Atomiks (General Atomix), Lockheed Martin and Northop Grumman. Each did not exceed 500 million dollars. The main characteristics asked at that time still reflected the need of the Navy for an autonomous deck-based unmanned combat vehicle capable of providing aircraft-assaulting connections with reconnaissance data and endowed with limited strike capabilities. It was assumed that at least 450 from 1400 kilograms of its payload will be weapon class "air-surface".
In August, Deputy Minister of Defense Robert Wark, co-author of the White Paper on Defense-2014, who favored the UCLASS variant with powerful weapons, reviewed the 2008 program. It was supposed that this would be the last stage of evaluation by the Ministry of Defense, however, the corresponding request to the tender has not yet been published.
Waiting for the tender
“UCLASS is now undergoing a special assessment of opportunities, and we are expecting results at the end of 2015 of the year,” Rear Admiral Mark Darra told 14 on April at the Sea-Air-to-Space exposition of the Naval League in National Harbor, Maryland. According to Darr, the tender is scheduled to be announced in the 2016 fiscal year, and the UAVs will be deployed in service at the beginning of the 2020s.
The admiral informed that two main questions still remain unanswered - about the ability of UCLASS devices to perform the tasks of blocking access and blocking individual A2 / AD zones (anti-access / area denial), as well as about the types of targets that he can hit. However, Darra lowered the chances of creating an unmanned platform with heavy weapons. “The times when the platform was planned, starting from an aircraft carrier with a range over 2000 kilometers and a mass of ammunition above 2000 kilograms, passed. “We have other systems that can do this kind of work,” he stressed. “This is called a promising integrated US Navy IF combat system.”
The admiral added that the naval forces will continue to increase the requirements for autonomy until artificial intelligence can work on the same principle as man. As an example, Darra cited an apparatus that needs to make a decision about conducting refueling in the air. This is a very difficult task with a number of variables that are not calculated by the computer.
22 of May of this year, the Navy successfully demonstrated fully autonomous refueling in the air of the Unrop X-47B of the Northrop Grumman UCAS-D unmanned Combat Air System (Unmonned Combat Air System).
“The X-47B test confirms the ability of prospective UAVs to perform standard tasks such as air refueling and seamlessly work with manned aircraft as part of an aircraft carrier wing,” said Captain Bo Duarte, program manager for the naval forces in this area.
X-47B was the first UAV aircraft scheme, operating from the aircraft carrier by analogy with manned aircraft. For the first time, X-47B made an ejection launch of 14 on May 2013 of the year from the atomic aircraft carrier CVN-77 “George Herbert Bush” (USS George HW Bush) of “Nimitz” class (Nimitz). May 17 UCAS-D completed nine landings with an immediate takeoff after touching a moving aircraft carrier on the deck. 10 July 2013 of the year X-47B flew from the US Naval Air Base Patuxent River and produced the first in stories UAV landing using aerofinishers.
The Navy said they were ready to close the UCAS-D program, in accordance with which all the tasks were performed, but some lawmakers insist on continuing to use this system. Subsequent research may be devoted to the autonomous selection of weapons, involves the leadership of the Navy, as well as the integration of UAVs in the wing of the carrier aircraft both on board and in operations.
Two directions of development
The Navy considers two possible directions for the development of the UCLASS apparatus. The first involves the creation of a reconnaissance and strike platform using mostly already developed technologies. According to the forecast of the weekly Janes Defense Weekly, the cost of R & D when choosing this option will be about a billion dollars. The final cost of the system is likely to be at the level of 25 million dollars. At the same time, if the Navy acquires for half of the existing 10 aircraft carriers one squadron each, including 6 – 12 devices, production costs can be reduced to the level of 0,9 – 1,8 billion dollars.
The second direction involves the creation of an unobtrusive UAV, twice the mass of weapons and the range of action manned shock platform. In this case, R & D costs can reach 10 billions of dollars, while the unit cost is 200 – 300 million dollars, including engines, and the production cost of 36 – 72 UAVs will be 7,2 – 14,4 billion dollars.
When choosing a less expensive platform, experts call General Atomics the most likely bidder for the contract. If the Navy follows the path of an unobtrusive UAV equipped with powerful weapons, the proposals of the other three candidates will probably be suitable. The work performed by Northrop Grumman under the X-47В program, of course, positions it as a favorite to receive a contract. And although the Navy stressed that the UCLASS program requires new development, undoubtedly, the autonomy technologies demonstrated by X-47В will be incorporated into the requirements, and Northrop's competencies gained in this area will help the company.
“Boeing” meanwhile, previously discussed plans to participate in the competitive struggle with the new apparatus, which includes Phantom Ray’s X-45C technology. Two test flights of this platform were funded by the company in 2011. “We tested a lot of opportunities during these flights that we wanted to explore,” said Dave Coopersmeath, vice president of Boeing Advanst Militar Air Air, a division of Boeing’s 2012. Since then, the company, however, has redirected funds to other projects.
Lockheed Martin is also developing promising technologies for participating in the UCLASS tender.
Last manned fighter
How can the Navy afford the second option with more complex UAVs, if now the Ministry of Defense is having financial problems? One of the budget articles of the Naval Forces in the aviation field is already a contender for a significant reduction in a very important period for the development of UCLASS. At the beginning of the year, the Navy announced plans to reduce purchases of the 5-generation F-35C carrier-based fighter by almost a third in accordance with the five-year FYDP defense program (Future Years Defense Program), which starts in 2016. The draft budget for the next fiscal year includes the purchase of four F-35Cs and an additional two, approved by congress at the end of 2014. Four more F-35C naval forces plan to purchase in 2017 year, and then increase the rate of purchases to 12 units by 2020 and get a total of only 38 fighters. Marine Corps plans include X-NUMX units F-83B.
Meanwhile, on the 2016 fiscal year, the Navy requested a budget of 800 million dollars for the purchase of new weapons used outside the enemy's air defense zone. The maximum plan for F-35C is 369 units. If this figure was confirmed during the fiscal year 2016 – 2022, 6,47 could save a billion dollars.
In April, US Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus ambiguously stated that the F-35 would almost certainly be the last manned fighter to be purchased and operated by the Navy, and unmanned systems, especially fully autonomous, should become the new norm in an increasingly wider range of areas.
The US Air Force, given the need to deal with emerging threats with limited funding and the high cost of the F-35 "Lightning-2" aircraft, are exploring the possibility of creating an 6-generation fighter. “It is not necessary that it will be single,” said the head of the combat aviation command of the US Air Force, General Mike Hostage. “If I can simply and effectively destroy the enemy, I will approve this project.” The air force is ready to accept intermediate risks and to direct part of the funds allocated for the modernization of combat aircraft to create a sample of the 6 generation.
This aviation complex will be based on indicators of stealth, speed and efficiency of the equipment achieved in the X-NUMX generation fighter F-5 and F-35 Raptor. He will have to interact with a promising long-range bomber LRSB (Long-Range Strike Bomber) and drones. The US Air Force may be developing weapons built on the principle of directional power transmission. Hostage noted the promise of these technologies and the successes achieved in this area. However, the general did not specify the technical details and did not report on the timing of the availability of samples of such weapons.
Ray Mabus announced the introduction of a new post as deputy assistant to the Navy for unmanned systems and the formation of control N99. According to him, it is necessary to coordinate and support all developments of unmanned vehicles operating under water, on water, over water and projecting their capabilities from sea to land. Until now, UAVs were subject to the management of the information superiority of the N2 / N6 Navy and were classified exclusively as reconnaissance platforms.
Expert opinion
Back in September, Pentagon high-ranking officials criticized the level of funding for the UCLASS tender, the opening of which was delayed. When asked why the Department of Defense still does not disclose the task, Frank Kendall, Deputy Minister of Defense for Procurement, Technology and Logistics, said that the whole thing was in determining the cost. “This is due to the uncertainty about our future budget and the problems of the feasibility of the project,” he said at a conference on defense in Washington. - We check positions which, probably, are not provided with the budget. The feasibility of the project is an important aspect for us now, and any new initiative must be very thoughtful. ” Before turning to industry for bids, officials want to be confident that the program’s intentions are real, Kendall added.
Nevertheless, congress auditors from the main budget and control department of the GAO (Government Accountability Office) in May accused the Pentagon of indecision on the development of tactical and technical requirements for UCLASS, arguing that the delay increases the risks of the program. The report says: “Continuing debates about what specialization should become the main one for UCLASS UAVs — reconnaissance with limited strike capabilities or, conversely, shock with limited intelligence capabilities, delay implementation of the program.”
The GAO management noted that many key stages of the implementation of the program, including the reasonable date of the first flight, have been postponed for several years. The Navy is at risk because the results achieved so far may become irrelevant, added to the GAO.
But although GAO’s concerns about the deferments and risks of the program are justified, the debate over the protracted requirements shows that the Navy is still refining its vision of deck-type UAVs. Thus, a thorough strategic assessment of the capabilities and role that a prospective UAV will play in the IF structure is a wise course. Current financial difficulties, in particular the continuing sequestration of the defense budget, doom programs to fierce competition. The Navy must convincingly state their arguments, especially if they rely on the low-profile UCLASS UAV with powerful weapons.
Information