U.S. Army Mulls Earlier Sky Warrior Production

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U.S. Army Mulls Earlier Sky Warrior Production
Aug 22, 2008

Amy Butler

The U.S. Army is considering accelerating the production decision for its Sky Warrior system, noting that experience flying variants of the Predator-based unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) abroad should provide the Pentagon’s test and acquisition community enough information to proceed with buying it early, according to program officials.

The current program calls for a low-rate initial production (LRIP) decision in fiscal 2010 for the Block 1 Sky Warrior system, which will employ all of the desired features including a heavy-fuel engine, a tactical common data link, fully automated landing system, four Hellfire missile hard points and the Common Sensor Payload electro-optical and infrared system.

With experience in the field, the Army may be able to bring that milestone decision to buy the air vehicles from General Atomics Aeronautical Systems forward to FY ‘09.Though Block 1 is the objective Sky Warrior system, the Army will have flown three earlier versions in operations abroad, incrementally adding new components planned for the objective system, says Tim Owings, deputy project manager for unmanned aircraft systems for the Army’s aviation program executive officer. The first is the Warrior Alpha, based on the smaller IGNAT-ER airframe, using a jet fuel engine. Nine Warrior Alphas are in Iraq, three are in Afghanistan and four more are in other locations abroad.

Sky Warrior Block 0 was inserted after Block 1 was conceived to allow the service to have more hands-on experience with the more robust MQ-1C airframe and the Thielert heavy-fuel engine. Today, one Warrior Block 0 has been deployed to Iraq, a second is shipping this week and two more are due there by March, Owings says.

Together with Block 0 flight time in combat theaters now, eight “quick reaction capability” (QRC) Block 1 Sky Warriors could provide enough experience with the system to help the Army justify an early LRIP nod. The Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) provided $94 million in FY ‘08 for deployment of two QRCs, each of which comprises four air vehicles and a ground control system and are the closest variant to the objective Block 1 configuration.

With the additional funding for the QRC in place, the Army is shifting $57 million from its tactical unmanned aerial system procurement account into the research and development account to pay for stretching out the Block 1 testing process. The shift was included in the Pentagon’s $1.8 billion omnibus reprogramming action sent to Congress in July. The Army plans to buy 150 Block 1 aircraft and 69 ground control stations after delivering the QRC systems to the field.

Army and Air Force officials are also refining plans to select common payloads – including sensors and datalinks – for their future fleets. The Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) is pushing for commonality in an effort to produce cost savings. The Air Force, in the meantime, is considering whether it will purchase the Army’s MQ-1C airframe for its future Predator fleet or if it will shift to an all-Reaper fleet. The MQ-9 Reaper, also built by General Atomics, is built on a larger airframe and uses a turboprop engine. A report on possible commonalities between the Army and Air Force fleets is due back to OSD next month.

In January, the Pentagon’s acquisition staff will review the program’s acquisition strategy.

Photo: US Army

Source
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_channel.jsp?channel=defense&id=news/WARRIOR082208.xml&headline=U.S.%20Army%20Mulls%20Earlier%20Sky%20Warrior%20Production