Firebee Lightning Bugs were used extensively in the conflict in Vietnam.

And although Firebees were used extensively in Vietnam, the Persian Gulf War two decades later marked the coming of age of UAVs as serious players in the military strategies of many nations. The Navy’s Pioneer, a direct derivative of Israeli surveillance and reconnaissance UAVs, played a crucial role as a spotter for U.S. battleships. They were so effective that Iraqi troops began to associate the sound of the little aircraft’s two-cycle engine with an imminent devastating bombardment. That eventually led to the first instance of human soldiers surrendering to a robot.

Just a brief decade later, the U.S. descendants of the Pioneer are to their progenitor as an F/A-22 is to the Wright Flyer. But while the American Predator, Global Hawk, Shadow, and other advanced technology aircraft may mark the high end of UAV technology, they are far from alone. At least three dozen nations now have active UAV development or acquisition programs under way.

Europe
In February, the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence selected Thales Defense and Northrop Grumman ISS International for the final phase of the Watchkeeper ISTAR (information, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance) program. The $1.34-million system integration and assurance phase calls on the two teams to demonstrate that their systems meet the program requirements of low risk, optimum performance, and quick fielding. A final decision is expected in September on a production program that could exceed $1.2 billion.

Thales is basing its Watchkeeper air vehicle on the Elbit Systems/Silver Arrow Hermes 180 and 450. Northrop Grumman says it is still evaluating several possible platforms, including the Navy RQ-8A Fire Scout system, currently in the flight test phase of engineering and manufacturing development.

Watchkeeper is only one of 18 UAV programs currently in development or deployed by U.K. forces. Others include the CSV-20 close-range airborne surveillance system, Phoenix battlefield surveillance and target acquisition UAV, Swift-Eye man-portable surveillance UAV, and ASR-4 Spectre multirole UAV.

In Germany work continues on the Taifan/Mücke (attack and electronic countermeasures) UAV, designed to carry a high-resolution K-band millimeter-wave radar seeker with moving target identification capability. The Germans already have deployed the Luna X-2000 close-range battlefield reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition (RSTA) UAV and have completed development of the Seamos maritime reconnaissance and target acquisition VTOL UAV, which is expected to enter service in 2006-2008. Those are among at least nine ongoing German UAV efforts.

France is among the most enthusiastic UAV developers, with more than two dozen programs under way, including the Azimut and Biodrone man-portable lightweight UAVs, Fox TX and Dragon electronic warfare UAVs, and Sarohale and Fregate high-altitude, long-endurance UAVs.

Russia has some 18 programs, notably the Albatross and Strekoza surveillance and environmental monitoring UAVs and the Ka-137 multipurpose rotary-wing UAV.

U.S. concept vehicles Vehicle Manufacturer Aeroskate Army Research Lab Aerosonde II Aerosonde Robotic Aircraft Arrow Frontier Systems Centelios AeroVironment D’HovRBot D-Star Engineering D’HumBug D-Star Engineering Dragonfly Boeing Dragon Warrior Sikorsky Aircraft D’SpyFly D-Star Engineering Entomopter Georgia Tech Research Institute Firestreak Mission Technologies Flightstreak Mission Technologies GLOV Accurate Automation Grasshopper Army Research Lab Helios AeroVironment Humming AeroCopter Hummingbird A115 Frontier Systems Hummingbird A160 Frontier Systems Kitty Hawk II Naval Research Laboratory Manta Georgia Tech Research Institute Midget Mission Technologies Mite Naval Research Laboratory RoboCopter Schweizer Aircraft Rogue Remote Intelligence Systems Sea Spray Piasecki Aircraft Sender-2 Naval Research Laboratory Shadow Frontier Systems SLURS Carolina Unmanned Vehicles Spin Wing Thorpe SEEOP Starfire Mission Technologies TS3000 Thorpe SEEOP Unnamed UAV Aurora Flight Sciences Unnamed UAV Lutronics Vanguard-S Mission Technologies W570A Frontier Systems Yellow Jacket AeroVironment

Other European program In Norway, SiMiCon is developing a new rotor design high-speed/VTOL UAV, the SiMiCon Rotor Craft, to combine the vertical takeoff and landing properties of a helicopter with the high-speed potential of a fixed-wing aircraft.

Middle East
Israel continues to pursue a broad and active UAV effort with some 20 programs, including the Hermes 180 tactical UAV, the delta-winged Cutlass (combat uninhabited target locate and strike system) “search and destroy” vehicle, the Searcher II (reconnaissance), and the Micro-V mini-UAV. Israel also is one of the leading researchers into ways of silencing the tell-tale engine noise of most UAVs. This has led critics to say that, rather than intimidating adversaries as it did in Desert Storm, the engine noise merely gives the enemy more time to target such planes for destruction. Israel also is the prime international exporter of UAVs.

UAV efforts in Iraq, shrouded in secrecy, were part of U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell’s February 5 presentation to the U.N. Security Council: “Iraq has been working on a variety of UAVs for more than a decade. This effort has included attempts to modify for unmanned flight the MiG-21 and, with greater success, an aircraft called the L-29. However, Iraq is now concentrating on smaller UAVs, well-suited for dispensing chemical and biological weapons.” All Iraqi UAV efforts, of course, are in limbo for the foreseeable future.

Across the border, Iran also has been investing in several families of attack and multirole UAVs, including the Mohadjer 2, 3, and 4 and the Ababil-B, -S, and -T.

Turkey also has at least a half-dozen UAV programs under way, including the Sahin (long-range, long-endurance), Serce (medium-range), and UAV-X1 (short-range). United Arab Emirates has been producing and exporting the Nibbio 1 and 2 (multirole) UAVs.

Asia
While most of the attention—and concern—in South Asia has been on the proliferation of nuclear weapons in India and Pakistan, both nations also are pursuing multiple UAV programs, India with the Nishant, for reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition, and an upgraded version of the Lakshya, and Pakistan with a sea-skimming version of the delta-wing Nishan Mk 2TJ.

In addition to pursuing its own programs, India has been buying heavily from Israel, having acquired the Searcher I and II, Heron-2 (medium-altitude long-range/long-endurance), and Harpy (antiradar).

Pakistan believes it can move its UAV programs forward as much as a decade by studying an Israeli-built Searcher Mark-II shot down while on a mission for the Indian air force in June 2002. Pakistan army staff Gen. Mohammad Yusuf Khan has called the acquisition and development of new and advanced UAVs critical and would like to buy up to three dozen U.S.-built Predators, as well as developing an indigenous production capability.

While much of Japan’s UAV effort has been directed at commercial applications, the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Forces’ inventory does have a VTOL and a rotary-wing UAV. The country also has been working on micro air vehicles (MAVs), for both commercial and military applications.

The situation is similar in South Korea, where Korea Aerospace Industries has developed two reconnaissance and surveillance UAVs—the TRPV-1 Doyosae and the Night Intruder 300. Other indigenous programs have been funded, but the heart of the country’s UAV capability lies in purchases of Israel’s Harpy.

North Korea has been actively developing its own UAV program and reportedly has acquired a number of DR-3 REYS tactical reconnaissance UAVs, built in the Commonwealth of Independent States but bought from a country in the Middle East.

China also has become increasingly active in UAV development, starting with its Chang Hong series, based on U.S. Firebees captured during the Vietnam War, including upgrades that use GPS guidance. It also has the scalable Guizhou WZ-2000, which could be evolved into a bomb-dropping unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV).

U.S.
Leading the world in research, development, production, and deployment of UAVs is the U.S. military, with at least five dozen different programs under way, ranging from research on flapping-wing MAVs the size of small birds to deployment of the massive Global Hawk.

The Bush administration’s spending plan calls for rapidly escalating investments in UAVs. Preliminary DOD procurement budgets would grow from $716 million spent in FY02 to $1.2 billion approved in FY03 to $1.4 billion requested for FY04 and nearly $2 billion in the FY05 Program Objective Memorandum (POM). One of the goals is to create a coordinated flight of three or more unmanned bombers being directed by a single pilot sitting in an aircraft too high for enemy missiles to reach.

Those numbers are separate from RDT&E budgets, where requests by the Air Force alone include $161.3 million for UCAVs and $398.6 million for endurance UAVs for FY04, as well as $243.2 million in the FY05 POM for UCAV RDT&E and another $340 million for endur-ance vehicles.

On other fronts, Congress has directed the Army to consider replacing the Loitering Attack Missile with a smart-munition-armed UAV. In addition, the Coast Guard is still planning to base its new Deepwater Tactical UAV on the Bell Eagle Eye, but is holding the Fire Scout “in reserve” as another option.

U.S. research vehicles Vehicle Manufacturer Centurion AeroVironment Chiron Aurora Flight Sciences Condor Boeing Eager Naval Research Laboratory Finder Naval Research Laboratory Ghost Naval Research Laboratory Humming AeroCopter HyFLYTE Accurate Automation LoFLYTE Accurate Automation OAW MLB [Oblique All Wing] Pathfinder AeroVironment Pathfinder Plus AeroVironment Perseus Aurora Flight Sciences Pink Eye Naval Research Laboratory Theseus Aurora Flight Sciences Venture Naval Research Laboratory X-36 Boeing

New roles for pilots…and vehicles
The prominent role played by UAVs in Central Europe and the Middle East—especially in Afghanistan and Iraq—also has elevated the status of those operating such aircraft. This is a matter of no small consequence to Air Force UAV pilots, who are drawn from the ranks of active fighter, bomber, and transport pilots. Those flyers had feared a two-year reassignment to UAV duty would sidetrack their careers, but are now receiving flight time credit for hours spent piloting UAVs and assurances that the experience actually will help, not hinder, their future prospects.

UAVs also are likely to be tasked to nonmilitary or paramilitary applications in the U.S. (and other nations as well). Sen. John Warner (R-Va.), who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, believes UAVs have a role to play in homeland security, although he also has raised questions about possible privacy concerns involving domestic use.

In addition to the Coast Guard, the U.S. Border Patrol also has made a commitment to deploying UAVs (both these organizations have been moved under the new Dept. of Homeland Security). As is the case in many other nations, UAVs also are being tasked for purely scientific research, such as Energy Dept. studies of high-altitude radiation and climate change. Other potential applications, by both government and private industry, include pipeline inspection, sea-air-ground traffic management, and even security for large facilities.

In March, DOD’s UAV Planning Task Force for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics released its “Roadmap Report” for future development of the technology. Task Force deputy Dyke Weatherington identified several areas of specific concern for both the U.S. and allied militaries, as well as other government and civil agencies, with regard to future UAV uses.

“We have a variety of programs ongoing, but the successful integration of unmanned aerial vehicles into the airspace, both the military airspace with other manned systems and the civilian airspace, we believe is key to enabling the full capabilities that UAVs promise to provide,” he said. “Certainly, the weaponization aspect of UAVs needs additional effort, and, frankly, that’s the challenge DARPA has taken on in the UCAV programs.”

U.S. developmental vehicles Vehicle Manufacturer Aerobot Moller International Altair General Atomics ASI Altus General Atomics ASI Archangel Systems Research and Development Back Pack Mini Mission Technologies Barracuda Boeing Bat MLB Black Widow AeroVironment BQM-145A Northrop Grumman Ryan (Model 350) CL-427 Puma Bombardier Services Condor BAI Cypher Sikorsky Aircraft D-1 Dara Aviation Dakota II Daedalus DarkStar/RQ-3 Lockheed Martin Dragon USBI Dragon Eye Naval Research Laboratory Eagle Eye Bell Helicopter Textron E-Hunter Northrop Grumman Ryan Ferret Northrop Grumman Ryan FINDER Naval Research Laboratory FireScout Northrop Grumman Ryan FLYRT Naval Research Laboratory Flyswatter MLB Global Hawk RQ-4 Northrop Grumman Ryan Hawk-i H-7F Chapy Hawk-i H-7H Chapy Helicam MLB HeliRocket MLB Heliwing Boeing High Point Naval Research Laboratory Hiline AeroVironment Hellfox Mission Technologies Hummingbird Moller International Hummingbird Naval Surface Warfare Center Huntair Northrop Grumman Ryan K-Max BURRO Kaman LAURA Naval Research Laboratory Maple Seed MLB MiniSpotter MLB Mini-Vanguard Mission Technologies Model 324 Northrop Grumman Ryan Model 375 Northrop Grumman Ryan Model 410 Northrop Grumman Ryan P-10/P-10A Thorpe SEEOP P-40 Thorpe SEEOP Paradactyl Omega Technologies Group Parakeet Omega Technologies Group Parasight Omega Technologies Group Pelican General Atomics ASI Pidgeon Army Research Lab Porter BAI Aerosystems Predator B General Atomics ASI Prowler General Atomics ASI Prowler II General Atomics ASI Remote Observation Lockheed Martin Vehicle SARA Naval Research Laboratory Scout MLB Scout2 MLB Sea Ferret Northrop Grumman Ryan Seascan Insitu Group Sender Naval Research Laboratory Senior Telemaster Naval Research Laboratory Sentry HP DRS Unmanned Technologies Shadow 200 AAI Shadow 400 AAI Shadow 1200 AAI Guardian SkyWatch Aurora Starbird (Ex) Northrop Grumman Ryan STF-9 Daedalus Research Swallow Naval Research Laboratory Telemaster Naval Research Laboratory Tornado Naval Research Laboratory Truck/Dakota Daedalus Research TS1000 Thorpe SEEOP TS2000 Thorpe SEEOP Twin Fuselage MLB Camcorder UCAV Boeing Valkyrie Mission Technologies Vanguard Mission Technologies Vanguard-II Mission Technologies Vigilante SAIC Vindicator Tempest Aviation Vixon Mission Technologies WIG UAV Prescott Products Wraith Systems Research and Development X-45 Boeing X-47 Pegasus Northrop Grumman Ryan X-Glider AeroVironment

Joint efforts grow
As development and acquisition of UAVs proliferate, Weatherington also sees strong potential for joint efforts—or at least close coordination—among allies. “Last month we had the program manager for Watchkeeper over here at our interoperability IPT [integrated product team], and they briefed Watchkeeper. So the DOD and the services are very attuned to the requirements and capabilities the U.K. is attempting to support with the program,” he says. “Certainly Watchkeeper provides one of those avenues where some form of joint cooperation might be appropriate.

“The department and the Air Force [also are] supporting the demonstration of second capabilities on an Air Force Global Hawk to support German [Euro Hawk] requirements. That demonstration program had to be curtailed because of real-world operations. But again, that is one of those development areas where there potentially could be joint cooperative development. In fact, DOD and the Air Force are exploring other avenues to support the German government and their demonstration of that capability.”

The U.S. R&D programs include some technologies for future UAVs that will be of interest to those allied efforts as well, such as research on enabling UAVs to stay in the air longer, with lower fuel weight requirements. Boeing, for example, is pursuing a DARPA project to demonstrate a complete propulsion system based on a new fuel cell adapted from automotive fuel cell technology.

In February, another DARPA project—the Hummingbird A160 VTOL UAV—made its first forward flight, validating its ability to fly using half the power and half the fuel of similarly loaded conventional helicopters. This also makes it substantially quieter and thus more attractive for urban operations.

Designed and developed by Frontier Systems in Irvine, Calif., the Hummingbird is one of a host of research, concept, and developmental UAV programs currently under way in the U.S.

To view the WorldWide UAV Roundup Chart, click here. If you would like a printed version of this chart, please contact Cecilia Capece at ceciliac@aiaa.org or 703/264-7570.