The Navy and Marine Corps are seeing increased demand from warfighters for specialized payloads for unmanned air vehicles, and more companies are taking an interest in developing those payloads, according to Navy and Marine Corps officials.
Warfighters are always looking to improve upon and get better details of the operational picture, Marine Corps Lt. Col. Brad Beach, unmanned air systems coordinator, department of aviation, told sister publication Defense Daily in a recent interview.
“In order to do that [we are] looking to continue to refine the capabilities these UAS platforms provide,” he added. “As those capabilities increase and the warfighter is made aware of the various payloads that are out there and the various platforms that are out there, I think that you always find a desire to employ one of those weapon systems or assets or UAS in order to improve the operational situation.”
The challenge, Beach said, is to integrate that into the scheme of maneuver operations, training, concept of employment, and that is where the acquisition and operational side come together.
“What we are finding is that we would love to support the warfighter as much as possible, and we do, but we really have to make sure that those actions are coordinated prior to putting those systems out into the field,” he said.
From a procurement advantage point, Capt. J.R. Brown program manager for PMA-263, Navy and Marine Corps unmanned aircraft vehicles (UAV) said he agrees there is an increased demand for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), but it goes beyond the optics piece of it. “We see a lot of demand for specialized payloads.”
“On the optics side we certainly get requirements from the various requirements offices that indicate that the warfighter is looking for a higher pixel density in the focal plane array. They want to see more, detect more, discern [more],” he said during the same interview.
Brown also noted that while there may be a demand for a higher resolution camera, at the same time he has to be able to move all that information, that newer higher density picture, for example, off the air vehicle down to the ground control station. “Often I have to find a solution for that at the same time.”
“We have to find a good systems solution each time we take a step forward in technology,” Brown added.
Brown said it’s key that he work closely with the warfighter as UAS and payloads are being developed, in order to help warfighters understand what the limits are.
“Sometimes there’s a possibility they’ll come back and say, ‘we’ll accept that but here’s our work -around,’ and that’s satisfactory to them for the interim while we try to get to the end state of a final solution,” Brown explained.
Charlie Timmons, acquisition program manager for logistics, logistics lead for PMA-263, told Defense Daily he is seeing continued growth in both small and large companies trying to gain a foothold in the UAV market for their air vehicles.
“I have a chart in my office, it has 88 photographs, 88 different air vehicles. Last year it had fewer,” he said.
“I am beginning to see more interest by companies in what they can do with payloads, but a lot of that is driven by the warfighter and what they need and how they communicate that back to the Pentagon,” Timmons added. “And some of it is in the S&T areas.”