A US military research programme that seeks to develop a medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aircraft system that can launch and recover from relatively small ships for long-term maritime surveillance has grown to five separate contractors.
UAS experts from Aurora Flight Sciences Corp. in Manassas, Va., are the latest companies to join the Tactically Exploited Reconnaissance Node (TERN) programme of the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in Arlington, Va.
The DARPA TERN programme seeks to overcome limitations of Navy shipboard aircraft surveillance. Helicopters are relatively limited in their maximum distances and flight times, for example, while fixed-wing manned and unmanned aircraft must operate from aircraft carriers or large land bases with long runways, although they can fly farther and longer than helicopters.
The TERN programme seeks to combine the strengths of aircraft bases on land and sea, by using small ships as mobile launch and recovery sites for medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) fixed-wing UAS, DARPA officials say.
The ultimate goal for a TERN UAS and launch system to enable persistent ISR and strike capabilities with payloads of 600 pounds while operating at ranges as long as 900 nautical miles from a host vessel.
The TERN system should be able to operate from several relatively small ship types in rough seas, including the 2,784-ton Independence-class littoral combat ship (LCS), which is 418 feet long and 104 feet wide, with a large aft-located flight deck. Other ships of interest are amphibious transport docks, dock landing ships, and Military Sealift Command cargo ships.
The programme will produce a low-cost TERN prototype UAS to demonstrate launch, recovery, and enabling technologies.
DARPA plans to roll out TERN in three phases over three or four years, culminating in a full-scale launch and recovery demonstration. The first phase will include concept definition activities; the second phase will mature technology, with preliminary design; and the last phase will demonstrate a TERN prototype.
A second solicitation will be issued during the first phase of the programme for TERN Phase II and III work.
From the TERN contractors, DARPA officials are interested in novel launch and recovery techniques; aircraft navigation; ship motion prediction; high lift devices; high stroke recovery or arrestment devices; and compact stowage arrangements. Other technologies of interest include automated maintenance systems; robotic deck handling; automated vehicle preflight checkout.
TERN envisions UA systems for deep overland ISR and strike missions without forward basing or host nation help. Long radius of action enables access to remote geographic areas while long endurance enables persistent ISR and striking fleeting targets.
A relatively small ship deploying with two or more UAS could offer high-tempo ISR and strike operations on an as-needed basis, DARPA officials say. The programme does not involve helicopters or airships.
Named after the family of sea birds known for flight endurance, TERN aims to make it much easier, quicker and less expensive for the U.S. military to deploy ISR and strike aircraft almost anywhere in the world, DARPA officials say.
The TERN medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) UAS and automated launch-and-recovery system will be able to launch a 600-pound payload and fly as far as 600 to 900 nautical miles from its host vessel.
The TERN programme envisions a capability “like having a falcon return to the arm of any person equipped to receive it, instead of to the same static perch every time,” says Daniel Patt, the DARPA TERN programme manager.
“About 98 percent of the world’s land area lies within 900 nautical miles of ocean coastlines,” Patt explains. “Enabling small ships to launch and retrieve long-endurance UAS on demand would greatly expand our situational awareness and our ability to quickly and flexibly engage in hotspots over land or water.”
Source: Military & Aerospace Electronics