FanWing demonstrated in flight over Farnborough a the 2010 airshow aerial display. Photo: Tamir Eshel

The FanWing STOL UAV technology demonstrator began flight testing in 2007. The FanWing concept uses a cross-flow fan along the span of each wing. The fan pulls the air in at the front and then expels  it over the wing’s trailing edge. In transferring the work of the engine to the rotor, which spans the whole wing, the FanWing accelerates a large volume of air and achieves unusually high lift-efficiency.

A STOL surveillance UAV based on the flight demonstrator shown at Farnborough shows unusually short take-off ability, as it leavs the ground after rolling for only one to three meters. The short-take-off capabilities make the application useful for operations originating from a  rooftop or short section of road. Such a vehicle could be developed as an urban surveillance UAV, that could fly slowly, manoeuvring through ‘urban canyons’, taking off and landing on rooftops, without using a catapult for takeoff or parachute for landing. An operational electrically powered FanWing UAV could weigh around 12 kg and carry 2kg of payload.

At the center was the Phantom Ray stealth UCAV, a technology demonstrator of the a four-tailed, six-engine flying platform built by QinetiQ, designed to experiment the flight rules to be used with the future Solar Eagle, a 400 foot span aerial vehicle proposed by Boeing for DARPA's Vulture 2 program.

For the first time at an international airshow Boeing dedicated a special display for its newly established UVS unit. At the center was the Phantom Ray stealth UCAV, a technology demonstrator of the a four-tailed, six-engine flying platform built by QinetiQ, designed to experiment the flight rules to be used with the future Solar Eagle, a 400 foot span aerial vehicle proposed by Boeing for DARPA’s Vulture 2 program. Boeing’s Solar Eagle could fly by 2014, carrying payloads up to 400 pounds to a cruising altitude of 60,000 ft, where it will remain on station for up to 80 days. DARPA would like an operational vehicle to remain in station up to five years…

The Solar Eagle will be capable of flying missions of unlimited duration, powered by multiple electrical motors that will provide the thrust for propulsion and steering, by using differential thrust of different motors. These motors will run on electrical energy generated by fuel cells and solar arrays. The energy stored on board will be sufficient to carry the Solar Eagle to its operating altitude, where the air is calm and plenty of solar energy can be stored during daytime, for use by the motors and systems on board overnight. The full-scale Solar Eagle will be configured as a tail-less flying wing fitted with eight motors, with payloads and energy storage carried in a boom-shaped canister. Boeing has recently completed the assembly of the Hydrogen-powered Phantom Eye that will also be capable of flying long endurance, high altitude missions.

Boeing also displayed three models of the long endurance A-160T Hummingbird, configured for three missions: persistent area surveillance, persistent area dominance, a weaponized configuration equipped with EO/IR payload and six Hellfire missiles and a tactical transport version, carrying cargo internally or as sling load.

Another UAV shown here for the first time is the H-6U - the. Unmanned Little Bird (ULB).

The air-launched ScanEagleCompressed Carriage was also displayed here, along with other small tactical UAVs from Boeing and InSitu - the Integrator and ScanEagle. Boeing is also working on the ‘Magnetic Eagle Compressed Carriage’ (MECC), designed for aerial anti-submarine warfare. Platforms such as the CCSE and NECC could be deployed from airborne platforms (a video shown by Boeing depicted one system dropped from a ramp of a V-22 in flight). A MECC equipped with a booster could be launched from a submarine.

The U.S. Air Force has deployed the 30th and last MC-12 ISR Aircraft to Afghanistan in July 2010. Photo: US Air Force

The 30th MC-12 Liberty was recently deployed to the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility completing the initial deployment plan, an Air Force official announced July 9. MC-12 Liberty ISR aircraft are currently operating with three units in SOuthwest Asia: the 361st Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron operating from Kandahar, Afghanistan and the 4th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron stationed in Bagram, Afghanistan and the 362nd Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron in Balad air base, Iraq.

Lieutenant General David A. Deptula, deputy chief of staff for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance at Headquarters Air Force. US Air Force photo.

According to Lt. Gen. David A. Deptula, the deputy chief of staff for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance at Headquarters Air Force, the aircraft has had a positive impact in theater. He added that the MC-12s assisted in the capture of hundreds of insurgents, and the discovery of weapons caches and improvised explosive devices. The MC-12 fleet has flown more than 5,000 combat sorties and taken more than 22,000 hours of full-motion video and more than 40,000 images to date. ”This project is an unqualified success, and the model for how we should develop and deliver quick-reaction ISR capabilities,” General Deptula said.

“The MC-12W is the fastest weapons system delivered from concept to combat since the P-51 Mustang in World War II” said “We mobilized a significant industry base and every resource at our disposal, and delivered the first Federal Aviation Administration-certified aircraft in six months and three weeks, It began flying combat sorties in less than eight months.”

In April 2008, Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates established a Department of Defense-wide ISR Task Force to identify and recommend solutions for increased ISR in the CENTCOM AOR. Secretary Gates tasked Air Force officials July 1, 2008, to acquire 37 “C-12″ class aircraft to augment unmanned systems. It was less than eight months from funding approval to the delivery of the first aircraft in theater. The entire operational fleet of 30 aircraft was deployed in only 13 months.

Lt. Gen Craig Koziol, DOD ISR Task Force director. Photo: USAF

“The entire Project Liberty team worked seamlessly to get this airborne ISR capability to the AOR as quickly as possible,” said Lt. Gen Craig Koziol, the DOD ISR Task Force director. “From concept to all the sensor integration efforts required to get this platform deployed, the team demonstrated superb focus to get this quick reaction, airborne ISR capability fielded to support (Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom).”

The aircraft are military versions of the Hawker Beechcraft Super King Air 350 and Super King 350ER. They are equipped with an electro-optical infrared sensor, and other sensors as the mission requires. The EO/IR sensor also includes a laser illuminator and designator in a single sensor package. A fully operational system consists of a modified aircraft with sensors, a ground exploitation cell, line-of-sight and satellite communications data-links, and a robust voice communications suite. The MC-12 capability supports all aspects of the Air Force Irregular Warfare mission — counter insurgency, foreign internal defense and building partnership capacity — and is capable of worldwide operations.

With the Air Force MC-12 program winding down, the U.S. Army is gearing up to replace its Guardrail aircraft with C-12 based platforms, equipped to carry out a wider range of missions, beyond the traditional electronic surveillance performed by the Guardrail.

Elta's multiple COMINT antennas and Maritime Surveillance Radar (MPR) carried in the bulky fairing at the belly, are seen on this Heron that participated in 2009 in operational capabilities evaluation of the Heron UAV conducted by the the U.S. Southern Command in El-Salvador. Photo: IAI

IAI reported today that its Elta Systems subsidiary has received two new orders from international customers, worth about US$35 million. Elta develops and produces a range of payloads for UAVs, including maritime surveillance radar (MSR) and synthetic aperture radars (SAR), Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) and Communications Intelligence (COMINT) payloads. Elta’s sensors can be integrated on a wide range of UAVs, but their most common uses are with IAI’s UAV platforms – such sensors can be carried separately on tactical UAVs, or as part of a multi-sensor packages, installed on a single platform such as the Heron or Heron TP.

The Heron recently deployed to support the Australian forces in Afghanistan has also been equipped with Elta's COMINT payloads and the MOSP EO stabilized payload from IAI Tamam. Photo: IAI.

In recent years IAI has delivered Heron and Searcher UAVs for a number of international customers, including Australia, France, Germany, Canada, Spain, Turkey, Russia and Brazil. One of the first users of the Heron was India, which operates these UAVs on maritime surveillance and land-based reconnaissance missions.

The U.S. Air Force began operating MC-12 ISR Aircraft at Bagram and Kandahar fields in Afghanistan earlier in 2010. In June this year, the Army received proposals from several U.S. companies for the delivery of similar aircraft known as 'EMARSS', to provide close ISR support to the land forces. Photo: US Air Force

The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] confirmed today the submission of a proposal for the U.S. Army Enhanced Medium-Altitude Reconnaissance and Surveillance System (EMARSS). According to Dennis Muilenburg, president and CEO, Boeing Defense, Space & Security, Boeing brings the value of a large system integrator that also is able to work at a fast pace to place tools in warfighters’ hands as soon as possible. “We are committed to delivering early and to providing a mission system that works as promised to bring soldiers home safely.” Said Muilenburg. The Army’s EMARSS request for proposals calls for a persistent capability to detect, locate, classify/identify, and track surface targets in day or night, near-all-weather conditions with a high degree of timeliness and accuracy.

Other competitors for the program include Northrop Grumman and L-3 Com. The service is expected to announce the award in late September. Boeing submitted its proposal on May 25.

BAE Systems' ARGUS-IS shown aboard a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter during testing. Photo: BAE Systems via Business Wire

Last week DARPA awarded two contracts funding high-resolution, wide area infra-red persistent surveillance system. The U.S. Air Force awarded BAE Systems about US$50 million to deliver a high resolution sensor for persistent surveillance over a wide area. BAE has been developing such a system under two other programs – DARPA Autonomous Real-time Ground Ubiquitous Surveillance-Imaging System (ARGUS-IS) and Army Airborne Wide Area Persistent Surveillance Sensor (AWAPSS) programs. The current system will be designed to enable a joint forces command in theater to constantly monitor critical areas of interest, using infra-red and video imagers, offering high degree of target location accuracy.

Part of the capabilities of WAMI sensors are to automatically track moving targets over a wide area. These images present two methods of presenting moving targets over surveillance images, showing multiple individual tracks and functional areas determined based on densities of movements. Photos: Kitware Inc.

DARPA is also seeking to improve the processing of the vast volumes of imagery data produced by WAMI sensor systems. Last week the agency has awarded Kitware Inc. a US$13.8 million contract for the development of image analysis support for wide area motion imagery systems. Kitware is developing these new workstations as part of the Persistent Motion Imagery Analysis Tool for Exploitation (PerMIATE) program, assisting analysts in discovering and analyzing high-value intelligence content embedded in massive amount of WAMI data, both online and forensically. Leveraging advanced computer vision, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and data visualization in an integrated workstation PerMIATE will reveal and highlight the most critical information in a clear and intuitive presentation, enabling video analyst to quickly validate or refute intelligence leads through deep exploration of the underlying evidence, resulting in substantial reductions in analyst workload as well as increasing the quality and accuracy of intelligence yield. DARPA is developing such analytic tools as part of the Persistent Stare Exploitation and Analysis System (PerSEAS) currently underway.

The U.S. Army is planning to field at least 36 Beechcraft 350ER aircraft equipped for persistent surveillance and reconnaissance, under the Enhanced Medium Altitude Reconnaissance Surveillance System' (EMARSS), Photo: U.S. National Guards

The U.S. Army is embarking on an acquisition program of a new aerial surveillance manned aircraft designated ‘Enhanced Medium Altitude Reconnaissance Surveillance System’ (EMARSS), augmenting tactical ground units with persistent surveillance, intelligence gathering and situational understanding, supporting their ‘Overwatch’ capability. The new program of record represents a low-risk approach to field advanced, critical intelligence gathering capabilities based on the field operationally Hawker Beechcraft 350ER (C-12) aircraft.

The EMARSS will be equipped conduct reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition operations in support of ground combat units in overwatch and to maintain a persistent presence over demonstrated at-risk areas. The program calls for the delivery of four engineering and manufacturing development aircraft within 18 months of contract award. The Army will have an option to buy four additional aircraft as part of the low-rate initial production phase. These aircraft will support the Army’s Aerial Exploitation Battalions (AEB), operated under the Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM).

Proposals for the program were submitted in June 2010. The program calls for the delivery of four engineering and manufacturing development aircraft within 18 months of contract award. The Army will have an option to buy four additional aircraft as part of the low-rate initial production phase. Northrop Grumman, Boeing and L-3 are known to compete for the program as prime contractors. While Boeing and Northrop Grumman are eying the program which surfaced as a major C4ISR program of record, L-3 is well positioned to compete with the experience it gathered through the Liberty MC-12 platform. The C-12 has also been operating successfully on airborne counter-IED missions, supporting Task Force ODIN in its IED hunting activities in Iraq and Afghanistan.