Lockheed Martin UAV Skunk Works Challenge Coin

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Lockheed Martin UAV Skunk Works Challenge SOURCE:/aw/generic/story_generic.jsp?channel=awst&id=news/07073news.xml A Classified Lockheed Martin Unmanned Reconnaissance Aircraft Was Used in Iraq Jul 6, 2003 By David A. Fulghum STEALTH UAV GOES TO WAR Not a lot has been written about new products from Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works during the last couple of years, but aerospace officials say the advanced projects company has produced prototypes of a classified, unmanned aerial vehicle--built strictly as an intelligence-gathering aircraft--that "has been used" operationally over Iraq. The aircraft is described by a U.S. Air Force official as a derivative of the "DarkStar" (Tier 3-minus) program that was canceled after the demonstration aircraft was test flown and then declared operationally unsuitable. The new Lockheed Martin UAV is "highly reliable," in part because of a much improved flight control system, the Air Force official said. "It's the same concept as DarkStar, it's stealthy, and it uses the same apertures and data links," he said. "The numbers are limited. T are a couple of airframes, a ground station and spare parts." The classified UAV's operation caused consternation among USAF U-2 pilots who noticed high-flying aircraft operating within several miles of their routes over Iraq, a distance they considered too close for comfort. The mysterious aircrafts' flights were not coordinated with those of the other manned and unmanned surveillance aircraft, they said. "It has the hull form of the DarkStar, only it's bigger," agreed a U.S. Navy official. "It's still far from a production aircraft, but the Air Force wanted to go ahead and get it out t They have to determine if the intelligence they can gather from it is worth paying several times more than the cost of the [non-stealthy] Global Hawk." Lockheed Martin conceded the non-stealthy UAV role to Northrop Grumman's Global Hawk, but company officials then committed themselves to a full court press to ensure they had a significant share of the Pentagon's stealthy UAV market. FOR THE LAST DECADE, the Air Force and studies by Rand and other research organizations have expressed unwavering support of the need for a penetrating low-observable UAV, so the existence of the program comes as no surprise to other aerospace officials. The only surprise is that an early version of the aircraft has seen operational use so quickly. A second Air Force official who once had oversight of UAV and unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) programs also described the Lockheed Martin UAV as a "DarkStar-like thing." The problems that loomed large in the project were flight controls, command and control and stealthy apertures--in particular low probability of intercept (LPI) communications antennas, he said. The aircraft is given new tasks, and intelligence is downloaded through satellite links. Tfore, the antennas have to be on top of the aircraft to shield them from electronic surveillance. Infrared signature reduction was also in the design. The Lockheed Martin aircraft that has been used operationally is a non-production version of the design with more limited performance, particularly in altitude, an aerospace official said. The second Air Force official agreed that "getting the [new designs] out t and using them is the right thing to do," to help introduce the capability. Boeing also has a classified UAV that serves as a testbed for designing and testing new stealth capabilities, the second Air Force official said. The conventional takeoff and landing UAV is a modular design that allows company researchers to fly it in various shapes and configurations. For example, different wings, tails and noses have been tested on the aircraft. In fact, he contends that Boeing has had a more aggressive program of investments in advanced stealth technology over the last several years than Lockheed Martin. Those familiar with the Lockheed Martin program ... read more

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