Aviation Week
Darpa Plan Has UAS Launch From Aircraft
Aviation Week & Space Technology - Defense Technology Edition
Pat Toensmeier
Mon, 2014-12-15 04:00
Darpa eyes deploying multiple UAS from airborne platforms
The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) wants to weigh in on a tactical debate that could have a far-reaching impact on air operations: how best to use unmanned aerial systems (UAS) in a range of missions.
Darpa recently issued a request for information (RFI) that seeks industry proposals regarding the feasibility and benefits of launching and recovering multiple small UAS from one or more large manned aircraft such as a C-130.
Think airborne aircraft carrier, which is how Darpa program manager Dan Patt describes the concept in a statement. “We want to find ways to make smaller aircraft more effective, and one . . . idea is enabling existing large aircraft, with minimal modification, to become ‘aircraft carriers in the sky.’ We envision innovative launch-and-recovery concepts for new UAS designs that would couple with recent advances in small payload design and collaborative technologies.”
Darpa’s concern is timely, and relevant. UAS have many advantages, notably in persistence; overwatch; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; and precision strike. They also have tradeoffs: UAS are relatively slow and vulnerable to ground-, air- and sea-based defenses.
One way of maximizing benefits and minimizing drawbacks could be by teaming UAS with manned aircraft. China, for one, is looking at this idea (see story, page DTI9), and other militaries, including the U.S., are experimenting with or deploying initial versions. For example, one or more UAS could operate over dangerous territory forward of a strike force and transmit surveillance and targeting data to the aircraft, which would rapidly attack and withdraw, minimizing defensive threats to pilots.
Darpa looks to address two key areas with the RFI: system-level technologies and concepts for launch and recovery of low-cost, reusable UAS; and high-payoff operational concepts and mission applications for distributed airborne capabilities and architectures.
The agency states that it wants to leverage “significant investments in . . . precision relative navigation . . . to enable extremely coordinated flight activities among aircraft . . . ” Darpa also wants to incorporate ongoing developments in small payloads (100 lb. or less), which would be used to extend UAS performance.
The RFI covers full-system flight demonstrations within four years, the results of which, along with cost estimates, will assist in planning for a potential program.
A version of this article appears in the December 15/22 issue of Aviation Week & Space Technology.
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