The Coast Guard is continuing to evaluate a number of different unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), including varieties used by the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Navy, according to a Coast Guard official.
“Right now it would be correct to characterize…we are interested in all UAVs,” Rear Adm. Gary Blore, assistant commandant for acquisition and chief acquisition officer, told reporters last month.
“If you watch that particular industry, it changes almost weekly,” he noted.
The Coast Guard signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) last summer with CBP, Blore said.
“We are very interested in their Predator program. Less so because of the vehicle itself, although the vehicle is very capable,” he added. “But what is appealing to us…about working with our sister agencies, is their command and control systems.”
In November, the Coast Guard and CBP also signed another document regarding the Common UAS Joint Program Office.
CBP built a facility by which they can control both the air vehicle and the sensors, Blore said.
“It seems to us it would be a good use of the taxpayers money if whatever air vehicles we are using we combine the CBP through that same facility. If it ends up being Predator B, that would meet our same requirements for a mid altitude fixed wing UAS (unmanned aerial system),” Blore said.
Predator is built by General Atomics’ Aeronautical Systems Inc.
The Coast Guard is also continuing to look for a replacement for the terminated Eagle Eye TR916 project.
Eagle Eye was to be a ship-launched vertical take-off and landing UAS built by Bell Helicopter Textron]. In 2007 the Coast Guard terminated the program.
“We continue to look for a replacement for what would have originally been a VTUAS for NSC (National Security Cutter), and OPC (Offshore Patrol Cutter), and our legacy cutters,” Blore said. “Right now, Fire Scout appears to be the one that is furthest along.”
Fire Scout is built by Northrop Grumman [NOC] for both the Navy and Army.
But before the Coast Guard settles on Fire Scout as its ship-launched UAS, the service is still waiting for the Navy to integrate a maritime surface search radar on the platform, Blore said. There has been some early testing with that. I know the manufacturer has put a radar on and tested signal strength back and forth,” he said. “But we still await [test] results, which should occur this next calendar year with our colleagues in the Navy, to see if they can get that [radar] fully integrated.”
If the Navy can get the radar fully integrated, then at that point the Coast Guard will look and see what other UAVs are available and decide how to proceed forward, Blore added.
“I don’t want to speculate right now, but Fire Scout appears to be the one furthest along,” he said.
The Navy has not yet mounted a radar onto Fire Scout, according to the Fire Scout program office.
“The development program for the Fire Scout radar begins in FY ’09 and we are in the early stages of that program. The majority of radar integration and testing will occur in FY ’10 with operational testing complete in FY ’11,” the program official said. “Northrop Grumman has installed a Telephonics 1700B radar on their company owned Fire Scout, known as P-6, and has flown it at Yuma.”
The radar will be a force multiplying capability for the Fire Scout and the fleet is very interested in having it as an operational capability, the official added.