Fans of the Navy’s experimental X-47B drone needn’t despair at the program’s end after this fiscal year. Although the aircraft “reached the end of what it had anticipated to do,” the operational follow-on program known as Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) will likely entail more research, development and demonstration, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said May 6.
“I think we are going to have to … do some more research and testing,” but “not necessarily” with the X-47B airframe, Carter said in a Senate Appropriations Committee defense subcommittee hearing. Instead, those demonstrations would likely be a part of the UCLASS program.
The Navy began the unmanned combat air system demonstrator (UCAS-D) program to validate whether an unmanned aerial vehicle could be integrated into normal aircraft carrier operations. The X-47B demonstrator developed for the program conducted successful catapult launches, arrested landings and cooperative flights with manned fighter jets, but lawmakers have suggested that more could be done with the UAV.
When asked by Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) whether it was premature to retire the X-47B, Carter said that although that demonstrator’s time is up, there is still a need to push technology before UCLASS is fielded.
“We are trying to determine what the requirements will be for the UCLASS program going forward, and I think once those requirements are defined, there will be a path of R&D and demonstration that follows from that,” he said.
“Unmanned aircraft in the Navy are part of the future, I think we recognize that,” he added. “That’s what the UCLASS program is all about.”
The need for more technology development could push back the UCLASS program, which has already been subject to numerous delays because of debates about its requirements. This year the Navy announced that early operational capability for the aircraft was put off until 2022, as the service conducts a review of its intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance portfolio.
Once the Navy validates UCLASS requirements, it should reevaluate cost and establish a business case for the system, stated a Government Accountability Office report released May 4. If the service opts to procure a UCLASS that is primarily a strike aircraft, rather than the surveillance asset currently envisioned by the Navy, it may need additional funding to mature technology.
“DoD and contractor officials have noted that if requirements become more demanding, for example increasing the air system’s weapons payload or the need for it to operate in a highly contested environment, then the estimated development costs could increase significantly,” the report stated.
X-47B manufacturer Northrop Grumman [NCO], Boeing [BA], Lockheed Martin [LMT] and General Atomics previously have been awarded preliminary design contracts for UCLASS.