BoyElroy
02-08-2006, 01:05 AM
18 January 2006
UK's UCAV Roadmap Revealed
NICK COOK Jane's Aerospace Consultant
London
BAE Systems' curious low-key public unveiling of two demonstrator unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) – dubbed Corax and Herti – is partly attributable to UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) fears that revelations about the vehicles will unravel the extent of classified UK activities in the UAV and stealth fields over the past decade-and-ahalf.
BAE released images of Corax and Herti to coincide with the launch of the UK's Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS) in December 2005.
Corax bears some resemblance to the cancelled Lockheed Martin/Boeing RQ-3A DarkStar UAV, with a tailless configuration and a long spanunswept wing mounted at the rear of a short body section. Compared with DarkStar, however, which was designed with an emphasis on a low side-on signature, Corax is optimised for all-round stealth.
BAE officials describe Corax as being highly aerodynamicallyunstable with an advanced fly-bywire flight control system. This, together with its low-observable shaping and radar-absorbent materials, help to make it – or an operational unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) derivative – "highly survivable", according to BAE sources.
The fully autonomous Corax took part in flight trials during 2003 and 2004, which are understood to have occurred at secure ranges in Australia. Although Corax is a private-venture initiative, the UK MoD has asked BAE not to discuss details of the project – in particular the degree to which the vehicle is sub- or full-scale –"because of sensitivities as to where the discussionsmight lead," sources told JDW.
The emergence of Corax and Herti – a demonstrator for a more general-purpose UAV that first flew from Machrihanish in southwest Scotland in August 2005 (the first UK UAV to carry out a fully autonomous flight in controlled UK airspace) – adds substance to the view that the UK has developed a highly advanced UAV/UCAV knowledge base via classified activities since the early 1990s.
With the unveiling of Corax and Herti this data will start to emerge, initially in the form of UAV and UCAV demonstrator activity formally launched under the DIS.
The DIS acknowledges the clear need for a UK UCAV demonstrator project to sustain the UK aerospace industry's combat aircraft expertise beyond its involvement in the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter: the UK's last manned fighter procurement. The UK MoD's Strategic UAV Experiment project office, meanwhile, will consider UK UAV and UCAV technologies alongside those underway in the US and other countries when it comes to making "informed decisions on their procurement" by 2010.
Corax
http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/2081/coraxhires8yg.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Herti
http://img76.imageshack.us/img76/126/hertihires2zo.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
UK's UCAV Roadmap Revealed
NICK COOK Jane's Aerospace Consultant
London
BAE Systems' curious low-key public unveiling of two demonstrator unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) – dubbed Corax and Herti – is partly attributable to UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) fears that revelations about the vehicles will unravel the extent of classified UK activities in the UAV and stealth fields over the past decade-and-ahalf.
BAE released images of Corax and Herti to coincide with the launch of the UK's Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS) in December 2005.
Corax bears some resemblance to the cancelled Lockheed Martin/Boeing RQ-3A DarkStar UAV, with a tailless configuration and a long spanunswept wing mounted at the rear of a short body section. Compared with DarkStar, however, which was designed with an emphasis on a low side-on signature, Corax is optimised for all-round stealth.
BAE officials describe Corax as being highly aerodynamicallyunstable with an advanced fly-bywire flight control system. This, together with its low-observable shaping and radar-absorbent materials, help to make it – or an operational unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) derivative – "highly survivable", according to BAE sources.
The fully autonomous Corax took part in flight trials during 2003 and 2004, which are understood to have occurred at secure ranges in Australia. Although Corax is a private-venture initiative, the UK MoD has asked BAE not to discuss details of the project – in particular the degree to which the vehicle is sub- or full-scale –"because of sensitivities as to where the discussionsmight lead," sources told JDW.
The emergence of Corax and Herti – a demonstrator for a more general-purpose UAV that first flew from Machrihanish in southwest Scotland in August 2005 (the first UK UAV to carry out a fully autonomous flight in controlled UK airspace) – adds substance to the view that the UK has developed a highly advanced UAV/UCAV knowledge base via classified activities since the early 1990s.
With the unveiling of Corax and Herti this data will start to emerge, initially in the form of UAV and UCAV demonstrator activity formally launched under the DIS.
The DIS acknowledges the clear need for a UK UCAV demonstrator project to sustain the UK aerospace industry's combat aircraft expertise beyond its involvement in the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter: the UK's last manned fighter procurement. The UK MoD's Strategic UAV Experiment project office, meanwhile, will consider UK UAV and UCAV technologies alongside those underway in the US and other countries when it comes to making "informed decisions on their procurement" by 2010.
Corax
http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/2081/coraxhires8yg.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Herti
http://img76.imageshack.us/img76/126/hertihires2zo.jpg (http://imageshack.us)