BOOST FOR UNMANNED CRAFT PENTAGON PLANS CALL FOR TRIPLING AMOUNT SPENT ON PILOTLESS PLANES.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE - The Pentagon plans to invest $10 billion by the end of the decade in unmanned aircraft capable of a variety of combat missions, according to a new Defense Department report.

In a report Pentagon officials call a road map for the development of unmanned air vehicles, or UAVs, the Defense Department said it plans to more than triple the amount spent on such aircraft, increasing the number of such aircraft from 90 today to about 350 by the year 2010.

``Ten years hence, DoD (Department of Defense) will probably be operating F-16-size UAVs capable of supporting a variety of combat and combat support missions, including suppression of enemy air defenses, electronic attack, and possibility of deep strike interdiction,'' the report said. ``Twenty-five years from now, UAVs may exist with morphing airframes, able to optimize their shape for various missions and flight conditions with skins and shape memory alloys permitting aerodynamic maneuvers impossible for manned aircraft.''

The Pentagon wants UAVs to perform what it calls dangerous, dirty, and just plain dull missions. Those tasks include missions that would be high-risk for pilots, such as attacking enemy radar and missile sites, and conducting surveillance missions that last for hours, missions that human crews would find tedious.

``The real focus of the road map is to identify those key technology areas that we think are right for investment, provide the investment in those areas, then provide options for decision-makers when those capabilities are demonstrated,'' said Dyke Weatherington, the Defense Department's deputy director of air warfare for acquisition, technology and logistics.

The military is already using a number of unmanned aircraft, controlled either by computers or by operators on the ground.

Those include the Predator, a small remotely controlled propeller-driven plane that can spy on the enemy and was used in Afghanistan to fire rockets at Taliban vehicles, and the more sophisticated, computer-controlled Global Hawk, which can survey an area the size of Indiana in 24 hours.

Global Hawks are built in Palmdale, and Predators, built in San Diego County, go through their final flight checks at a private airport near Lake Los Angeles.

The new plan's No. 1 goal is the development of a UAV capable of performing multiple missions, including attacking enemy air defense systems and conducting electronic attacks, such as disrupting enemy communications.

There are two separate efforts, one aimed at meeting Air Force requirements and another for Navy missions, to develop such an aircraft.

To support the development of technologies needed for an Air Force unmanned combat aircraft, two unmanned X-45A aircraft are being flight-tested at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards. That testing will include a simulated, coordinated attack by the two aircraft against a target.

By 2010, the Air Force plans to have as many as 36 unmanned combat aircraft.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the Navy are working on a similar program to develop technologies for missions from aircraft carriers. The first flight test of an experimental aircraft to test technologies needed for the Navy combat aircraft is expected in late 2006.

The Navy wants to begin fielding its unmanned combat aircraft before 2015.

Another major goal is to develop the technologies and enhance the reliability of unmanned aircraft so that they can operate in the same areas as manned aircraft. Unmanned craft now face more restrictions in where they can fly, such as over populated areas.

Another goal is to improve the safety and reliability of larger UAVs, such as the Global Hawk unmanned reconnaissance aircraft. The Global Hawk program, while earning praise for its capability of surveying large areas for prolonged periods, has been marred by three crashes, including two during the Afghanistan campaign.

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) The unmanned Predator is built in San Diego County.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer

(2 -- 3 -- color) The Palmdale-built Global Hawk, shown at left, has been marred by three crashes, including two during the Afghanistan campaign, despite earning praise for its capability of surveying large areas for prolonged periods. Above is a look at the Boeing X-45 UAV. The Defense Department wants to boost the number of such aircraft from 90 today to about 350 by the year 2010.

Boeing

Northrop Grumman