Spies in the sky: surveillance needs fuel demand for unmanned vehicles.

Military commanders increasingly are relying on unmanned aircraft for surveillance and reconnaissance, especially in maritime areas, noted a new Defense Department report.

This trend, officials said, is indicative of a steady rise in the use of robotic vehicles in military operations.

Currently, there are nearly 1,000 robotic vehicles in the Central Command theater of operations. "The combatant commanders like them. They keep asking for more," said Dyke Weatherington, deputy undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics.

Weatherington is in charge of the defense secretary's planning task force for UAVs, which the Pentagon has renamed "unmanned aerial systems," or UASs. "The vehicle, while important, is only one element in a complex system," he told a recent industry conference that was hosted by the Navy International Office.

In August, the task force issued a 213-page UAS roadmap that outlined the Pentagon's plans for the evolution of military unmanned aerial technology during the next quarter century.

A priority for combatant commanders is "persistent ISR [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, an uninterrupted flow of information over extended periods of time], especially in maritime areas," he said. "UASs are suited to those roles."

The Navy and the Coast Guard, particularly, need more help patrolling the long U.S. coastline, the Persian Gulf and other sea-lanes, Weatherington said.

As a result, he explained, the defense secretary's office "is working with the Navy to rapidly accelerate fielding of UAS capabilities to the fleet."

This summer, for example, the Navy began flight tests at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md., with two RQ-4A Global Hawk UAVs as part of a demonstration program to help determine what capabilities an unmanned aircraft would need to patrol U.S. coastlines and the open ocean. The unmanned aircraft would supplement the Navy's manned P-3C Orion maritime surveillance aircraft and its planned replacement, the Maritime Multi-Mission Aircraft.

The Global Hawk made by Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems of El Segundo, Calif.--is a long-range unmanned aircraft with a range of 12,000 nautical miles. It has a wingspan of 116 feet and a length of 44 feet.

The Air Force has employed the Global Hawk in more than 60 combat missions. Flying at heights up to 65,000 feet with speeds approaching 400 miles per hour for as long as 35 hours, the Global hawk has put in more than 4,300 combat hours in 200 missions since 2001, according to Northrop Grumman spokesman Rovelle Anderson.

Since the invasion of Afghanistan, the Navy has been looking for an unmanned platform to conduct a form of persistent ISR that it calls "broad-area maritime surveillance," or BAMS.

A 2004 Defense Science Board study suggested merging the Air Force's Global Hawk program with the Navy's BAMS project into a common high-altitude endurance UAV system. But Capt. Patti Morgan, the service's UAS program manager, insisted that, at the moment, the Navy is not considering that option.

"The Global Hawk is just an experiment," he said. The demonstration will employ two Global Hawks as test beds as the Navy develops maritime ISR requirements for its BAMS UAS system.

In August, the Navy deployed the Global Hawk to support the USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63) Carrier Strike Group in Joint Air and Sea Exercise (JASEX) 2005 in the Western Pacific Ocean near Okinawa and Japan.

Starting November 10 through December 10, the platform will fly with the USS Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group in Trident Warrior 2005 off the coast of Virginia.

The BAMS UAS is envisioned as providing 24-hour coverage over an on-station range of 2,000 nautical miles. BAMS bases in five locations--Kaneohe, Hawaii; Jacksonville, Fla.; Sigonella, Italy; Diego Garcia, in the Indian Ocean, and Kadena, Okinawa--would permit worldwide maritime surveillance.

Initially, the Navy had planned to field a BAMS by 2008, but that goal was pushed out to 2013 for budgetary reasons. Weatherington, however, said his task force is "working with the Navy to pull BAMS back a little, and we're looking at a couple of options to do that."

In June, the service completed sea trials with the Scan Eagle--another, smaller long-endurance UAS--aboard the USS Cleveland (LPD 7). The sea trials were part of a two-week exercise off the coast of San Diego. The Scan Eagle, developed by Boeing and the In Situ Group, completed four shipboard launches and captures, and provided real-time video to ships participating in the exercise.

The Scan Eagle has a 10-foot wingspan and a length of four feet, tiny compared to the Global hawk. Still, it can fly higher than 16,000 feet for more than 15 hours, and designers plan for future versions to stay aloft for 30 hours.

The Navy plans to use the Scan Eagle to provide persistent ISR coverage for expeditionary strike groups and to increase security for oil platforms in the Persian Gulf. In 2004, it was deployed with the I Marine Expeditionary Force to Iraq, where it flew more than 3,600 combat flight hours. It provided Marines in Fallujah with a real-time picture of the enemy, helping the Leathernecks to attack insurgents with reduced exposure.

The Navy also is looking into the possibility of developing unmanned systems to conduct aerial strike missions. In July, at Yuma Proving Grounds, Ariz., Northrop Grumman launched 2.75-inch Hydra-class rockets from the MQ-8B Fire Scout vertical-takeoff and landing tactical UAS, which the service is evaluating for deployment on its future Littoral Combat Ship, a small, fast vessel being designed for coastal warfare.

Recently, the Fire Scout was re-designated from RQ-8B to MQ-8B, reflecting the aircraft's multiple missions. It is an unmanned helicopter that is designed to take off and land on unprepared landing zones in the battlefield and on any aviation-capable warship, such as an aircraft carrier, amphibious assault ship and possibly the LCS,

"Next spring, we're going to get Fire Scout to Sea," Morgan said.

The Navy's planned fixed-wing combat UAV has been merged with similar Air Force and Defense Advanced Research Project Agency concepts into a X-47B Joint Unmanned Combat Aerial System. JUCAS, as it is known, is now an Air Force-led program, Morgan said. It's primary mission will be persistent ISR, but is eventually will have strike capability, he explained.

The J-UCAS program office plans a spiral development, with a first flight in 2007, operational assessment the following year, initial capability for ISR in 2015 and strike in 2020, Morgan said. The prime contractor, Northrop Grumman, plans to produce three full-scale X-47B demonstrators for the Navy and Air Force.

DRS Unmanned Technologies Inc. of Mineral Wells, Texas, has delivered 15 copies of a small UAS that is designed for maritime special operations. With a length of six feet and a seven-foot wingspan, the system, dubbed Neptune, is carried--disassembled--in a 72x30x20-inch case that transforms into a pneumatic launcher.

The Neptune can be launched from small vessels and recovered in open water. It can carry video cameras and other sensors or drop small payloads. A fleet of 27 aircraft is planned.

Meanwhile, the Coast Guard is developing its own vertical takeoff UAS. The Eagle Eye is an unmanned version of Bell Helicopter's V-22 Osprey tiltrotor, which can take off and land like a helicopter and fly like a fixed wing aircraft, explained Cmdr. Melissa Hofman. The Eagle Eye is designed to operate from the decks of the Coast Guard's planned national security and offshore patrol cutters. It is being built as part of the service's long-term surface and air acquisition program, which is known as Deepwater.

Eagle Eye completed its preliminary design review in January 2004, Hofman said. The first flight is scheduled for 2007, with shipboard tests the following year.

Ultimately, the Coast Guard would like to acquire 69 Eagle Eyes. Their cameras, radar and other sensors will be useful particularly in allowing cutter commanders to view the distant operations of their boarding crews, Hoffman said. "A lot of skippers don't like not being able to see what's going on. UASs can provide that picture."

Between 2005 and 2009, the Defense Department plans to spend $1.7 billion to fund 79 UAS-related research projects, according to the roadmap. That is a significant increase over the $1.2 billion and 60 projects funded in 2000, the report said.

To help allay such expense, the Navy is marketing its systems to U.S. allies around the world, said Rear Adm. Mark R. Milliken, director of the service's international programs office. Milliken's office has signed bilateral agreements with eight other nations, allowing the Navy to share UAS information with them.

U.S. export rules, however, is making it difficult to release military technology to some allies, such as new members of NATO. "We're working on that," Milliken said.

Also, few foreign countries can afford large aircraft, he noted. "We're trying to emphasize smaller, cheaper systems."

RELATED ARTICLE: No crews required: unmanned vessels hit the waves.

The Navy is experimenting with a new pair of sleek-looking unmanned surface vehicles designed to deploy from on its future Littoral Combat Ship--a small, fast vessel being designed for coastal warfare.

The two boats, which were built by the Maritime Applied Physics Corporation, of Baltimore, Md., were on display at the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems' symposium in Baltimore, Md. They are being tested at the Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md., by the Office of Naval Research, the Naval Surface Warfare Center's Carderock Division and the Naval Sea Systems Command's program executive office for ships.

"We've been doing launching and recovery," said Scott Littlefield, science and technology director for ONR and PEO-Ships. "The Navy is still experimenting with USVs. Everybody agrees the LCS needs a small family of them. The question is: How many?"

The LCS can carry as many as five USVs. Its modular design will permit interchangeable mission packages, allowing the ship to be reconfigured, as necessary, for antisubmarine, mine or surface-warfare missions.

The first ship of the class, currently under construction at the Marinette Marine shipyard, in Marinette, Wis., is scheduled for delivery in late 2006.

The two MAPC craft, painted a gray and black camouflage to blend in with a maritime environment, were not part of the original design for the LCS, said MAPC President Mark S. Rice. "The Spartan [Scout] 11-meter unmanned [rigid-hull inflatable boat] was specified."

The Scout was developed by Integrated Maritime Platforms International Inc. of Silverdale, Wash., as a 2002 Defense Department advanced concept technology project. It can be armed with a .50 caliber machine gun, video cameras and other sensors.

MAPC set out to "to bracket the Spartan's capabilities," to produce two boats that could do things that the Spartan couldn't do, Rice said.

One of the MAPC craft, the High Speed Unmanned Sea Surface Vessel, is a 35-foot hydrofoil, with a top speed of more than 40 knots in heavy seas. It is designed to operate in sea-state 4 waters, with six to eight-foot waves, he said. Most such vessels become unstable in that sort of environment, he added.

The other MAPC platform, the 39-foot Tow Force Unmanned Sea Surface Vessel, is slower, moving no faster than just above 20 knots. But it can tow up to 2,500 pounds, and it can carry up to 8,050 pounds in payload and fuel.

"The Navy has a lot of little unmanned boats, but they can't carry large payloads," said Will Sokol, a Carderock technical manager.

General Dynamics-Bath Iron Works, the prime contractor for one of the two teams competing to build the LCS, is expected to hold a competition later this month to decide which USVs to go on board its version of those ships, Littlefield said. "We expect to have these boats ready for that competition."--HAROLD KENNEDY