Stealth Saga #41

Avenger:

The US Air Force tested an advanced optical sensor on the General Atomics Avenger.

 MQ-XX:

MQ-XX will only have tanking and ISR capabilities, no strike, if the navy gets its way.

KF-X:

The engine maker for the KF-X is to be selected soon.

Hanwha Thales has been selected to provide the radar for the KF-X.  A bit more here.

ATD-X/X-2:

The Japanese X-2 had its maiden flight.  More info here and here.

PAK-DA:

It should be met with skepticism based on the Russian economy and moves by the Russian MOD, but its reported the PAK-DA bomber will be a stealthy flying wing and should have first flight in 2021.

Sixth Generation Fighters:

The US Navy may ditch the FA-XX for a family of systems, but at this point has started its analysis of alternatives.  It has made it clear whatever comes out will not be the same airframe as the USAF's F-X (or whatever it may be).

B-21:

The House is asking the USAF to buy more B-21 bombers.

The USAF has revised its position and stated that 100 bombers is the minimum they need to buy for the B-21.

Here is the report to Congress on the B-21 program.

Does Congress have enough oversight on the B-21 program?

F-22:

F-22 are being deployed from Alaska to the middle east.

The House also asked the US Air Force to study the costs of buying another 194 F-22s. This would require a restart of the F-22 production line.  It might be simply too late to restart the production line.

The Congressman Forbes' push for the F-22 might have to do with his reelection fight.

F-35:

Israel is holding firm on increasing its F-35 order.

Officials are confident about the ejection seat fix for the F-35 as well.

Spain may buy the F-35B. 

Israel's F-35Is will arrive on December 12th of this year in country.

Israel expects they will be the only Middle Eastern F-35 operator for at least a decade.

The F-35 light weight helmet has passed its first test.

Britain wants to be the sustainment center for European F-35 avionics.

The GAO & JPO are at odds over the F-35 program mods...again.

The House Arms Services Committee is adding back in 11 F-35s to the budget.

Hill AFB is modifying all three of the F-35 variants.

CNN reports on the F-35 problems wiht ALIS.

MCAS Beautfort is getting ready for expanded F-35B operations.

General:

When will fighters become obsolete?

Stealth Saga #38

RQ-170:

Air and Space has a profile of the RQ-170.

UCLASS:

Despite doing a tanker drone first, the US Navy has stated it still wants a UCLASS drone.

The GAO reported on the progress on UCLASS.

ATD-X/X-2:

Here's a high resolution photo of the X-2. 

F-3:

Japan has reached out to Boeing and Lockheed for help in building its 5th generation fighter.  The Russians are calling the F-3 a sixth generation fighter.  That remains to be seen.

J-20:

PAK-FA:

The Indian variant of the PAK-FA, the FGFA, may end up armed with the hypersonic Brahmos missile.

B-21:

WiB argues the B-21 needs to become more open for it to survive the funding battles coming up.  Its not to say it should be a 'white' program, but less grey.  Unforunately, while they have the right idea, they use the disastrous Navy A-12 program as the basis of their argument.  The A-12 program was not canceled due to a funding fight with the F-22 though.  It was cancelled because it was run atrociously.


F-35:

The USS America has joined the fleet after having its deck strengthened for flying the F-35.

The US Marines will be standing up a second F-35B squadron in June.

The first USMC F-35B squadron will deploy on time to Japan.

The F-35A IOC may be delayed due to the software fixes.  And cyber vulnerabilities.

The total costs of F-35 acquisition has dropped $13 billion.

However, the last F-35 will fly until 2070 now.  That will increase the total life time costs of the program.  I also have a hard time believing the F-35 will remain in the inventory until I am 96.  There are going to be some major tech changes that will obsolete the F-35 by the 2050s at the latest.

The head of the F-35 program and the GAO are at odds.

The F-35 is going on a global publicity tour to wins hearts and minds at least of the legislatures backing the project.

WiB grouses at the expense of F-35 upgrades.

General:

A Chinese businessman has plead guilty to spying on the F-22 and F-35 programs.

The US Air Force is being criticized for still believing it can have a 100% stealth air fleet.

Stealth Saga #32

ATD-X/X-2/F-3:

The X-2 is conducting taxi tests and will have its first flight in March (paywall link).

PAK-FA:

The Russians are claiming a climb rate record for the PAK-FA.  They are also saying an export version of the PAK-FA will be ready in 2020.

For the moment, I will be keeping the PAK-FA here.  However, its becoming increasingly said the PAK-FA is a 4.5 or 4th++ generation fighter comparable to the Rafale rather than the F-22, even Jane's called it a 'FINO' (fifth-gen in name only).

CBARS/UCLASS:

Also the CBARS tanker seems to be back under review by OSD.  The US Navy is stating the CBARS effort will be leaner than the UCLASS one.

Sixth Generation Fighter:

 The Pentagon is dropping more hints about the 6th gen: more fuel capacity, longer range, more weapons, lasers and stealth.

Aviation Week warns (paywall) about defining the next fighter as a fighter.

Long Range Strike Bomber:

There is a campaign to kill off the needed nuclear bomber.

B-2:

Here's an impressive flyby by the B-2 at an airshow.

F-35:

The test deployment of the F-35A to Mountain Home AFB is to demo the ability to deploy to foreign bases.

FACO approaches for the first Japanese Fp35A.

Israel's Rafael is looking for opportunities to add its current sensors to or develop new ones for the F-35.

Canada will not be excluding the F-35 from its CF-18 fighter replacement competition.

Counterstealth:

The Chinese are claiming to be able to track the F-22 over the South China Sea.

Here's 'how to kill an F-35' but really how it might be possible to track stealthy aircraft.

Patents:

Who invented stealth technology?  A 1984 patent dispute is in the appeals court stage.

Budget:

Russia is cutting back its defense procurement budget by around 5%.  Others are casting doubt on the idea though.

Stupidity:

Some idiot claims to have flown a drone into Area 51.

Stealth Saga #30: GAO to Boeing, Protest DENIED

TFX:

Turkey is seeking advanced stealth technologies to be included in their TFX fighter.

PAK-FA:

There is a report the Russians are cutting their order for the initial production run of the PAK-FA/T-50 from 17 to 12.  The way the article is written, the whole program sounds in jeopardy.

J-20:

The Chinese are expected to produce at least 6 LRIP J-20s as part of their gear up to full production.

RAQ-25 UCLASS/CBARS:

The US Navy wants this tanker/strike/recon drone asap.  

Sixth Generation Fighters:

The US Air Force and US Navy Sixth Generation Fighers (F-X and FA-XX respectively) will be separate aircraft, unlike the F-35, due to very different requirements.

Long Range Strike Bomber:

The GAO has denied Boeing's contract award protest.  Northrop and the USAF are clear to move forward.  I wonder when we will get to see the bird now?

Here's a bit more on the subject including the actual release by the GAO.

A top US Air Force acquisition official has been moved to a new job after he disclosed his wife had a retirement account with Northrop. There was some thought this might have muddied the contract award to Northrop protested by Boeing.  Obviously not.

F-22:

Here are some gorgeous pictures of the F-22 during Red Flag.

F-35:

The F-35 has crossed 50,000 flight hours.

The F-35 program will build 20 less fighters between FY17 and FY21.

Cutting the F-35 is an easy financial target for budgets.  OTOH, international partners are pushing the US to do a block buy of the F-35 over three years for financial reasons as well.

The F-35 is a strong contender for the replacement of Belgium's F-16s.

The F-35's simulator is profiled.

The F-35 Atlantic crossing was done with purely Italian assets.

Lockheed sees a demand for another 100 F-35 fighters in Asia.

The US Air Force will start using contractors to do maintenance for its 4th generation fighters due to the short fall of personnel for the F-35.

Here's more on the six F-35As sent to Mountain Home AFB as a simulated overseas deployment.

Mitsubishi is getting close to finishing assembly of AX-1, the first Japanese assembled F-35.

Stealth Saga #28

PAK-FA:

Russia claims it will put the PAK-FA into service by the end of the year and that it will be able to launch cruise missiles.

J-20:

China remains ahead, so goes the narrative, between the nations in Asia to acquire stealth aircraft.


UCLASS:

Rumor has it the US Navy is considering changing the mission of the UCLASS drone from recon and strike to air to air refueling.  Yup, a tanker.  This is going to really, really annoy Congress.  Congress stated they wanted a stealthy, long range strike plane for the UCLASS and funded the procurement even for competitive fly-off.  Well.  umm.  yeah.  Here is more info.

Here's an editorial in support of the shift of the UCLASS from strike to tanker.

If Congress agrees with the conversion, the tanker drone will move to the Terminator Times posts.

IMNSHO, it would be best to do the tanker and start the development of the strike asset.  It takes time to develop those capabilities and get them on the deck.  The tanker will get there faster and will be of great use.  However, the strike asset will take MORE time and we need capability in the 2030 time frame.  If we start now, we'll barely get it on deck in time.

Tacit Blue:

Take a virtual tour of the Tacit Blue's cockpit.  Tacit Blue was another stealth aircraft black project from the 1980s.  It flew from 1981 to 1985 built by Northrop.  The intent was to have a stealthy spycraft right at the enemy lines with loads of sensors.  For whatever reason, probably risk, the program was cancelled and the sensors were used on the JSTARS aircraft.  The JSTARS is in process of being replaced now.

F-22:

F-35:

One of the consequences of the UCLASS change is more F-35Cs are being ordered for the US Navy.  The Navy will get more F-35Cs.  Apparently, 10 more F-35s more than planned over the next 5 years.

A report is that the F-35's test schedule is unrealistic.

The British will be receiving their last test F-35 shortly.

One analysis predicts the F-35 will revolutionize the Israeli Air Force.

F-35A operating costs have come down considerably and its operational readiness has been increased.

The US Air Force has cut its request for 48 F-35As to 43.

The top weapon's tester is expressing opposition to doing a bulk buy of the F-35 until after testing is complete.

Four F-35As will deploy to Mountain Home AFB in Idaho to test whether or not the F-35A can be declared as having IOC this summer as planned.

Stealth Saga #15

J-20:

A new prototype, 2017, of the J-20 stealth fighter has taken flight.  

KF-X:

Indonesia and South Korea worked out more details on how they will work together on the KF-X project.

There is a further delay for the transfer of technologies from the US to South Korea for the KF-X program.

UCLASS:

The Navy has set up an unmanned vehicle office to manage the UAVs, UCAVs, USVs and UUVs.  The stalled UCLASS has been assigned to this office.

Long Range Strike Bomber: 

An opinion states the US Air Force made the right decision for the LRS-B contract award.

US Air Force is investigating the data breach in a Forbes article describing the costs for development.

F-35 Lightning II:

Canada's participation in the F-35 is now completely up in the air.

The Brits have announced they will be increasing their total buy of F-35s.

Denmark is likely to confirm an order for 30 F-35s.

Belgium is likely to release its RFP for its F-16 replacement soon and the F-35 is a contender.

The F-35 will be entered into the Canadian recompete for the replacement of the Canadian CF-18s.

The US Marines F-35B squadron, VMFA-121, has been declared ready for combat deployment.

US Navy set up Unmanned Office for UCLASS, LDUUV, two Other Programs

The Navy’s new offices for unmanned systems — that’s drones or robots to you and me — are a long-overdue reform, two top experts tell us. But, as emphasized by both our outside sources and the new Navy officials themselves, it’s equally important to understand the initiative’s limits. This is not an overhaul of the existing structure. It is a patch. The Navy wants to bring promising technologies out of the lab, through the funding “valley of death” into the regular acquisition system, and ultimately to the fleet.

So Skynet it ain’t. “We are not going to replace Marines. We are not going to go out there and replace sailors,” Frank Kelley, the retired Marine one-star who is now the first deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for unmanned systems, said at a recent AUVSI robotics conference. Nor does the reorganization signal the start of some big new unmanned weapons program or a new infusion of funding.

It doesn’t even put all the myriad existing programs under one roof. Most drones will remain under current management. Of the four that actually do fall under the new structure, two — the UCLASS drone and LDUUV mini-sub — will eventually outgrow it and transfer to the traditional aircraft and submarine bureaucracies when they’re ready to begin engineering work (Milestone B). A new Common Control System for use on multiple types of unmanned vehicles and general research on autonomy (artificial intelligence) will remain under Rear Adm. Robert Girrier, who as head of Navy staff section N99 is Kelley’s uniformed counterpart.

“I only own programs, by the way, that are pre-milestone B,” Girrier told a reporters Friday. “Right now I’ve got a total of four.”

link.

Are Modern Aircraft Carriers Less Capable Than Cold War Era Equivalents?

The high-cost, high-controversy centerpieces for the future Navy fleet — the Ford-class aircraft carrier and the F-35C fighter — not only take it in the wrong direction, says a report out today. They double down on a strategic mistake made 20 years ago, when the Navy shortchanged range, argues Jerry Hendrix, a retired Navy captain now with the Center for a New American Security in a new study.

Only investing in new, unmanned aircraft with longer range — ideally launched off smaller, cheaper carriers — can restore the carrier’s relevance in the face of Russian and Chinese ship-killing missiles, Hendrix argues. Like a recent study from the Hudson Institute, Hendrix sharply criticizes the modern carrier air wing for being too short-ranged and argues the Navy’s UCLASS drone (Unmanned Carrier Launched Surveillance & Strike) should be optimized for long-range raids.

In fact, both studies were at least partially inspired by a public debate Hendrix had with one of the Hudson co-authors, Bryan McGrath, back in January. Unlike the Hudsonites, however, who stoutly defend big carriers in general and the Ford class in particular, Hendrix takes issue with the ships as well as the airplanes flying off them.

“I still think that the Ford is too damn expensive. I still think we can do aircraft carriers more cheaply,” Hendrix told me. And he’s hardly alone: The retired Navy pilot who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, John McCain, repeatedly has hammered the Ford program for being over budget and behind schedule. Hendrix notes that McCain himself flew off the USS Forrestal, considered America’s first modern “supercarrier” but still 20 percent smaller than the subsequent Nimitz class or the Ford (80,000 tons at full load versus 100,000).

Yet despite being smaller, the Forrestal launched larger, longer-ranged aircraft than carriers do today. McCain, for example, flew the A-4 Skyhawk, whose range exceeds both the current standard strike fighter, the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, and the forthcoming F-35C. (Skyhawk combat radius: 550-625 nautical miles. Super Hornet: 500 nm. F-35C: officially 615 but Hendrix estimates, based on how the F-35A variant is falling short of its range spec, that the C will end up closer to 550). Other retired carrier aircraft had even longer ranges, the greatest being the A3D Skywarrior introduced in 1956, the largest plane ever to fly from a carrier and boasting an 1,800-nm combat radius.

link.

Fighting a war With China Requires Aircraft Carriers, FA-XX and *TWO* UCLASS UCAVs

At $4.7 billion over budget, Ford-class aircraft carriers have taken a beating in Congress. This morning, though, the House Seapower subcommittee chairman will roll out a report from the conservative Hudson Institute that’s a ringing defense of the carrier — but which also contains a stinging indictment of the aircraft that fly from it. The report calls for upgrading current multi-mission planes for longer range and building multiple new types of more specialized aircraft, potentially including two different models of UCLASS drone.

Nuclear-powered super-carriers are irreplaceable, co-author Bryan McGrath told me, and the Ford is a good design. But, he said, “the air wing will have to be completely rethought…to win and deter the war we cannot lose.”

link.

Some Naval and Marine Aviation News, Including UCLASS, From DOD Authorization Act

Here's a short list:

1.  6 Additional F-35Bs for the US Marine Corps, bring their total for 2016 to 15.

2.  12 Additional F-18Es for the US Navy.

3.  An additional MQ-4C Triton.

4.  $350 million for UCLASS (navy asked for $135M).   Up to $305M may be used for competitive prototyping and at least some of it is supposed to be used for the X-49B testing to reduce the risk of UCLASS.  The committee also said:

“The conferees believe that the Navy should develop a penetrating, air-refuelable, unmanned carrier-launched aircraft capable of performing a broad range of missions in a non- permissive environment. The conferees believe that such an aircraft should be designed for full integration into carrier air wing operations—including strike operations—and possess the range, payload, and survivability attributes as necessary to complement such integration,” according to the statement.

“Although the Defense Department could develop land-based unmanned aircraft with attributes to support the air wing, the conferees believe that the United States would derive substantial strategic and operational benefits from operating such aircraft from a mobile seabase that is self-deployable and not subject to the caveats of a host nation.”

link.

Stealth Saga #5: the Lightning, the Bomber and the 7th J-20 Prototype

The Chinese have unveiled a seventh J-20 prototype with further refinements.

The F-35 program is about to emerge from the development phase in 2017 and ramp up to manufacturing phase.  They will go from 40 planes per year to at least 120 planes.  Doing so may stress the various suppliers for the F-35.  Even so, Northrop is ramping up their delivery of fuselages to Lockheed: they will delivery another fuselage now every 1 1/2 working days.   Canada's participation in the F-35 program probably hinges on their election.  The first Italian assembled F-35 took flight. Israel is building up its capabilities in anticipation of getting their F-35s.

The stealthy Franken Hornet reappeared with better pix.

The US Navy's UCLASS is still in procurement hell.

The Long Range Strike Bomber dominated Defense Secretary Carter's visit to a Boeing plant.  Analysts are pointing out the obvious: the US Air Force needs more than 100 bombers (what is planned for the LRS-B) to keep parity with its current capability.  The total need is supposed to be 174 new bombers.  Other analysts are pointing out the real need for the LRS-B as well.  Congressman Forbes is going to go after the USAF for the bomber budget discrepancies. 

US Navy's UCLASS' Time in Acquisition Hell

The long-running debate over the mission of the US Navy's carrier-launched unmanned surveillance and strike aircraft might have set the "UCLASS" competition back few years, but the maritime force's acquisition chief says getting the requirements right from the beginning is vital.

“This programme is in acquisition hell right now. It’s been inside the building for three years, just trying to get out and see the light of day,” Navy assistant secretary Sean Stackley said at a Navy League forum in Washington 9 September. “We’ll debate on it some more this fall (September to November) with OSD to determine whether or not we have the right programme, not just for the navy, but the nation.”

With many conflicting views and opinions about the role of the aircraft, Stackley says once the requirements question is settled, the programme will have a much better chance of delivering the carrier-based UAV the navy needs to maintain its technological edge.

link.

Sec Nav Mabus: Continue X-47B Testing, but do NOT Give Northrop an Edge in UCLASS RFP

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said he would like to see the Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) program move forward soon, and he’d like to continue testing the X-47B Unmanned Carrier Air Vehicle demonstrator (UCAS-D) program in the mean time without giving an advantage to builder Northrop Grumman.

Speaking at the American Enterprise Institute on Tuesday, Mabus said the Navy has had a UCLASS request for proposals (RFP) ready to go for almost two years now, but “it’s been held up because of a look at overall ISR [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] systems.”

The ISR review is a Defense Department-level initiative, but many in Congress, including Senate Armed Services Committee chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.), have said they want to see a greater emphasis on strike capability from the platform. McCain said the requirements so far focus on things like unrefueled endurance – important for ISR missions – rather than payload capacity for strike missions.

Mabus explained that ISR is “certainly one role” for UCLASS but not the only role.

“One of the reasons we’d like to go ahead and get the RFP out is that we’d like to find out what’s available out there in industry,” he said.

“We put certain key parameters in terms of endurance, in terms of stealth, in terms of payload, but we don’t know what industry, how far they can go in these. Payload is obviously strike.”

“We would like very much to get going on UCLASS,“ he said, but until the Navy can push out its RFP the service will continue working with UCAS-D.

“We are still testing UCAS, the X-47B. We’ve done air-to-air refueling now, we’ve done a lot of the things – we’ve shown you can move it around the deck, we’ve obviously shown it can take off and land from a carrier,” he said.

“The issue with it is how you continue to do that without giving one manufacturer just a huge advantage over what comes next. I think there are ways around it, but we’ve got to be careful not to give the people that made UCAS a huge advantage over what the next iteration is.”

link.

Navy Sec Mabus: UCLASS for ISR, US Senate: No

Sec Mabus states UCLASS is a stepping stone to an unmanned fight and ought to be focused on ISR:

Ray Mabus likes robots. The Navy Secretary has declared the F-35 will be “the last manned strike fighter” the service ever buys and invested heavily in unmanned aircraft, boats, and submersibles. But Mabus has frustrated drone advocates on one major program: the Unmanned Carrier-Launched Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) aircraft.

This morning, Mabus defended the Navy’s plans for a relatively modest UCLASS optimized for the “surveillance” aspect of its mission rather than the “strike” part — but he also promised UCLASS would be “the bridge” to a future unmanned strike plane, the one that replaces F-35. Given that the F-35 will be around for decades, however, this two-stage approach is unlikely to satisfy UCLASS critics like Senate ARmed Services chairman John McCain, House Seapower chairman Rep. Randy Forbes, and key players in the Pentagon itself, all of whom want a strike drone ASAP to deal with China.

Mabus said today at a DefenseOne leadership breakfast that “I’m for a full-up penetrating strike fighter” — eventually. “We see UCLASS as getting to that,” he said — but, he made clear, not as being that.

“For UCLASS…we ought to have endurance, we ought to have range, we ought to have payload,” he said, notably omitting stealth. “It should be an ISR [intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance] platform, it should be a refueling platform, but it also should be a strike platform [for] uncontested or minimally contested environments.”

In the longer term, he said, “it ought to be the bridge to a full-up strike fighter — an autonomous strike fighter — that [operates] in contested environments.”

Senator Forbes replies:

“Building ‘bridges’ sounds great, but at some point you need to cross them,” Rep. Forbes snapped in an email when I asked about Mabus’s comments. “While I understand the Navy’s desire to ‘crawl, walk, and run,’ I am concerned that in the race between anti-access and power projection capabilities, we are falling further and further behind. The carrier air wing is going to need a long-range, deep penetrating strike asset, and it is going to need it soon. Given that the UCLASS program is supposed to deliver its first operational aircraft to the fleet in 2022-23, I am concerned that the program seems to be driven by the needs of today and not those of tomorrow.”

link.

Senate Armed Services Committee Funds Deep Strike UCLASS Prototypes, Further X-47b Testing

The Senate Armed Services Committee — concerned with the Navy’s direction for its planned unmanned carrier aircraft program — wants the Pentagon to oversee development of two new carrier capable prototype unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and restart testing of the service’s two Northrop Grumman X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstration (UCAS-D) in a combined $725 million effort, according to a summary of the SASC’s markup of the Fiscal Year 2016 defense authorization bill released Thursday evening.

The SASC bill reflects ongoing sentiments from legislators in both the House and Senate that oppose the Navy’s development of the Unmanned Carrier Launched Strike and Surveillance (UCLASS) that would have limited ability to extend the lethal range of U.S. carrier air wings into defended enemy airspace and act primarily as an information, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) platform for the carrier strike group.

In a March letter, SASC chairman Sen. John McCain told Secretary of Defense Ash Carter “developing a new carrier-based unmanned aircraft that is primarily an ISR platform and unable to operate effectively in medium- to high –level threat environments would be operationally and strategically misguided.”

According to the summary, “the bill includes $375.0 million for competitive prototyping of at least two follow-on air systems that move toward a UCLASS program capable of long-range strike in a contested environment.”

Measures in the bill would allow the Navy to continue developing its own self-directed version of UCLASS — using $134.7 million in excess development funds obligated in 2015. Development of the UCLASS air-segment has been paused due to an ongoing Pentagon wide UAV strategic program review (SPR, pronounced spear) inside the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) and overseen by Deputy Secretary of Defense Bob Work.

The additional testing and prototyping authority proposed in the SASC bill would give (OSD) more control in shaping UCLASS into a more lethal strike platform in line with the original strategic vision for carrier UAVs, outlined in the 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review, USNI News understands.

The summary said the bill “expresses concern that the Navy’s current requirements for the UCLASS program place disproportionate emphasis on unrefueled endurance to provide organic ISR support to the carrier strike group. The bill recognizes the potential of integrating unmanned combat aircraft in the carrier air wing.”

In parallel to the prototyping effort, the SASC bill gives OSD $350 million “to continue technology maturation and risk reduction with the existing UCAS-D vehicles that will benefit UCLASS and other unmanned aerial systems programs,” read the summary.

link.

Sec Navy Mabus: UCLASS *NOT* Deep Strike, 6h Gen Fighter FA-XX "Should be Unmanned”

The Navy’s planned carrier-based unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) will help the service in a transition from manned strike aircraft to a future autonomous strike platform, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus said on Wednesday.

While the final character of the Unmanned Carrier Launched Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) is still being developed, Mabus said whatever the outcome it would likely not possess the autonomous deep strike capability into contested areas the service ultimately will require.

“What we currently think it won’t be able to do is in the current [request for proposal] we’re looking at, is to do autonomous contested strike,” Mabus told reporters following an address at the U.S Naval Academy (USNA).

“What we’re looking at UCLASS is to be the bridge between manned systems and completely autonomous unmanned strike — which will be sometime in the 2020s — to develop that program using UCLASS to get us there.”

The final Navy requirements for UCLASS’ air segment are contingent upon the findings of a Department of Defense UAV strategic program review (SPR, pronounced spear), which will be finalized later this year.

[...]

“UCLASS can do a lot of stuff we still don’t know everything it can do because we haven’t put out the RFP yet, we don’t know what exactly industry can give us,” Mabus said.
“But UCLASS can certainly do ISR, UCLASS can certainly do refueling, we just proved that.”

The Navy has plans to introduce UCLASS to the fleet by 2022 to 2023

While Mabus said UCLASS might not be the penetrating strike aircraft some advocates are hoping for, the Navy will ultimately need an autonomous strike platform.

“We have to moved to unmanned. That’s the future,” he said in response to a question from an USNA midshipman.
“Not just ISR, not just refueling but strike.”

Mabus did not specify if the autonomous deep strike capability would be developed in a program before the service’s planned Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet replacement program — F/A-XX.

“I don’t know exactly what program it will fall under, but whatever F/A-XX looks like it should be unmanned,” he said.

link.

Lockheed Wants Northrop X-47B Program Continued

Lockheed Martin wants to see the continuation of the X-47B demonstrator programme led by Northrop Grumman as the US Navy’s unmanned carrier-launched airborne surveillance and strike (UCLASS) competition enters a “waiting period” with no firm requirements so far revealed.

Bob Ruszkowski, Lockheed’s director of advanced air dominance and unmanned systems strategy, says that industry and the navy still have much to learn about unmanned operations within a battle carrier group that is swarming with manned aircraft.

“It’s still very important for the navy to continue to learn how to operate unmanned aircraft in a manned aircraft environment,” he says. “The navy would have a lot to gain from continuing those demonstrations.”

Ruszkowski says future X-47B testing could focus on command and control (C2), safe operations, information sharing across the battle group, and concepts of operation. That would help reduce risk across the UCLASS programme, he adds.

link.

GAO to US Navy: Decide on What UCLASS is Supposed to do

The US Government Accountability Office has warned that unless the US Navy carefully considers its requirements for the service's future unmanned, carrier-launched surveillance and strike (UCLASS) programme it risks rendering redundant any research carried out so far.

While UCLASS has been delayed by some three years amid indecision on the likely role for the aircraft, testing has been carried out on the Northrop Grumman X-47B unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) demonstrator that most recently achieved an aviation first when it performed an autonomous in-flight refuelling in mid-April.

"Ongoing debate about whether the primary role of the UCLASS system should be mainly surveillance with limited strike or mainly strike with limited surveillance has delayed the programme," the GAO says in a report released on 4 May. "The knowledge the navy has obtained about the resources needed to develop the UCLASS system may no longer be applicable depending on what requirements are finally chosen."

The GAO says that if the final UCLASS requirements emphasise a strike role with limited surveillance, the navy will likely need to "revisit its understanding of available resources in the areas of design knowledge, funding, and technologies" before awarding an air system development contract.

The future of the two X-47B demonstrators also remains unclear. As it stands, funding is exhausted, with the navy having spent some $1.5 billion on their development. The two prototype aircraft are expected to be retired to a museum.

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Navy Secretary Defends F-35 Last Manned Fighter Statement

U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus on Thursday defended his drive to consolidate the Navy's work on a range of unmanned systems, and said the U.S. military risked losing its leadership role unless it focused on what he called "the future of warfare."

"Unmanned is the future," Mabus said in a speech at the National Press Club. "If we don't keep up in this, if we don't lead on this, we're very certainly going to be bypassed ... because we're not the only ones working on this."

Mabus this month announced plans to name a new civilian deputy assistant secretary to oversee underwater, surface and aerial unmanned systems, and to create a new office on the uniformed military side of the Navy to coordinate and "champion" all aspects of the new weapons systems across the service.

Mabus said he stood by his recent comment that the F-35 fighter jet developed by Lockheed Martin Corp "should be, and almost certainly will be, the last manned strike fighter aircraft the Department of the Navy will ever buy or fly."

The remark drew criticism from pilots across the military.

Focusing on unmanned systems would allow the Navy to reach more places, stay there longer, carry out more dangerous missions, and better protect the lives of its people than continuing to rely on manned fighter jets, manned minehunters and other weapons, Mabus said.

New technology included on the F-35 fighter plane worked so fast the pilots already were not involved, he said.

He noted a recent test of the unmanned X-47B aircraft built by Northrop Grumman Corp, which showed the drone could be refueled at sea.

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Congress Wants Navy to Continue X-47B Testing, Navy Implies Worried About Fair UCLASS Competition

Rep. Randy Forbes (R-Va.) wants to keep the Navy’s two X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstrators (UCAS-D) flying instead of sending the two unmanned vehicles to a museum or long term storage, according to a Thursday letter to Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus obtained by USNI News.

Last week, Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) successfully demonstrated autonomous aerial refueling (AAR) with an unmanned Northrop Grumman X-47B — call sign, Salty Dog 502 — marking the end of the official test program with no planned extension on the horizon.

NAVAIR officials have said the X-47B would be too different from its plans for the follow-on airframe for the Unmanned Carrier Launched Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) program and making changes to Salty Dogs 501 and 502 would be too expensive.

“The Navy has told my subcommittee that there is minimal value in extending the UCAS-D program, as the X-47B demonstrators bear little resemblance to the aircraft required for the UCLASS program,” wrote Forbes, chair of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces, to Mabus.

“Even if the Navy’s vision and requirement for UCLASS remain unchanged, I suspect that some further use might yet be found for these two highly capable platforms as unmanned testbeds or as surrogates for other systems.”

While NAVAIR has been adamant about shutting down the UCAS-D program, Navy leadership is still considering options for the Salty Dogs, a Mabus spokesperson told USNI News on Thursday.

“We continue to evaluate the cost/benefit of conducting additional testing with the X-47B,” read a statement from Mabus’ office.

“We want to ensure we have explored the capabilities of this unmanned aircraft while maintaining the ability to have an appropriate level of competition for the UCLASS air segment.”

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