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nother program dominating the show was the US Navy Broad
Area Maritime Search (BAMS), which is expected to select
an unmanned platform to augment and replace part of the Navy's
maritime surveillance aircraft in the next decade. The Navy
considers three alternatives representing totally different
solutions, based on the Global
Hawk HALE from Northrop Grumman, the Mariner
MALE UAV proposed by Lockheed Martin and General Atomics
or an optionally piloted G550 platform from Boeing.
Obtaining High
Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) capability is becoming a
new trend, with systems becoming more dominant in coming years
with the maturation of unmanned platforms, introducing long
persistence and 'near space' capabilities, replacing satellites
being vulnerable to enemy attacks. HALE platforms could also
augment existing space and aerial assets, supporting heightened
operational needs in certain theaters. Our coverage includes
an update on the various developments and missions proposed
for Northrop Grumman's
Global Hawk, the ISIS
and FALCON systems from
Lockheed martin, the HALL,
from Aurora and Boeing, and the Global
Observer from Aerovironment.
Between the large HALE systems and the smaller
mini and Micro-UAVs, a new range of unmanned aerial systems
are evolving, and are expected to define the future tactical
systems for years to come. Several classes of unmanned aerial
systems (UAS) are considered by the US armed services, among
them, two relatively new groups, currently defined as Tier
II and Tier III by the US Navy/Marine Corps, the latter
considered to be the  more
mature. However, just prior to the event, Tier II changed direction,
somewhat reshuffling the cards for many participants. AUVSI
provided the stage for several companies to display relevant
technologies related to the tactical Tier II program. These
included the New Integrator,
developed by InSitu, as well as the new
versions and payloads for the Scan Eagle developed by InSitu
and Boeing. Among the new versions unveiled by Boeing were
a redesigned Scan Eagle Compressed Carriage (SECC) configuration
to be adapted for air insertion.
 Other
Tier II candidates at the show were the GoldenEye
80 from Aurora, teaming with Northrop Grumman to pursue
this program. SpyHawk displayed
by MTC and the original designer Arcturus, the KillerBee,
presented Swift Engineering teamed with Raytheon to pursue
this opportunity while IAI's
I-View 50, the Israeli was newcomer to this program. Elbit
Systems' Skylark II was also on display and could become
an attractive option for the  US
Marines. Smaller systems, such as the the new Stalker
and Desert Hawk III
from Lockheed Martin, the Skylark
from Elbit Systems, and Skylite
from RAFAEL, brought to the show by Advanced Ceramics Research
(ACR), which also displayed its own Sky Fox UAV.
Representative Tier III also included future weaponized UAVs;
these platforms, considerably larger than Tier II are designed
for closely supporting tactical units providing persistent operations
over the battlezone.
 They
will be used for fire support, armed scout and ISR missions
directly supporting maneuver forces. They are designed augmenting
or replacing manned helicopter gunships or manned close air
support. These Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) Combat UAVs
are expected to follow fielding of FireScout later in the next
decade. Such futuristic designs are already under development,
including the Excalibur
from Aurora, AD-150,
proposed by American Dynamics, and the VARIOUS
UCAV, a concept for a future lightweight Unmanned Combat
Aerial System developed by Lockheed Martin. Northrop Grumman
also highlighted its newly selected X-47B
UCAS-D vehicle, selected by the US Navy for evaluation for
future carrier borne operations.
A unique sensor system for aerial refueling, designed by Cobham
was introduced at AUVSI. This sensor is part of an aerial refueling
system can be adapted to refuel unmanned aerial systems. The
system utilizes the VisNav series 100 Dci sensor system can
be applied to any buddy refueling pod and drogue, to accurately
tracks measure the drogue position in azimuth and elevation.
The system performs over 100 measurements every second and relay
the data to the UAV for effective station keeping. The sensor
performs under all lighting conditions and can be integrated
with existing drogues and buddy store tanks.
Payloads and Control Systems
Advanced mission control systems were also introduced, including
the Virtual
Cockpit from Procerus Technologies. Among the new payloads,
novel systems included the latest version of the miniature,
stabilized U-STAMP payload
from Controp.
Pyramid
Vision introduced at AUVSI the Video Quest product, supporting
processing, storage and management of video streams. Two lightweight
5" turrets included new versions of the TASE displayed
by CloudCap and the new TigerEye from AeroMech. Rockwell. Collins
and Sandia labs unveiled the new TacVu
Mini SAR payload and control system, introducing all weather
imaging technology available for tactical UAVs. Applied Signal
Technology also introduced a cellphone spotter payload enabling
a uAV to covertly spot, identify and localize cellphone users
from a distance.
Other new airborne payloads for unmanned systems included
two new communications systems, the Mini-Common Data Link which
recently passed a major demonstration phase and a new add-on
unveiled by Enerdyne, enabling transmission of digital communications
protocols and high capacity digital data over existing analog
links.
Israel Aerospace Industries' Malat division introduced a new
systems designed to improve command and control of Unmanned
Ground Vehicles (UGVs) which were introduced at AUVSI. Finally,
the naval application of unmanned systems was represented by
a range of surface vehicles (USV) and sub-surface (UUVs) systems.
Topics covered in this review:
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