Appel d'offres UK pour drones Lingue Endurance

U.K. To Launch Long-Endurance UAV Acquisition

The U.K. plans to kick off competition for a medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle in the third quarter, with funding for this phase of the program recently approved.
The go-ahead for the assessment phase of the Operational Unmanned Aerial System (OUAS)—and associated funding—also appears to have avoided a potential gap in financing the development of a main contender for the requirement, the BAE Systems-led Mantis.
The OUAS is intended to provide persistent intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, with the platform also capable of weapons delivery.
Mantis, the EADS Talarion and likely the General Atomics Predator C Avenger will be candidates for the Defense Ministry’s requirement, presently in the concept phase.
The first stage of the Defense Ministry and industry-funded Mantis—so called Spiral 1—is now nearing completion. Had the launch of the OUAS assessment phase slipped beyond the pending Strategic Defense Review this would have raised funding concerns about the Mantis, risking a hiatus in the project as the ministry re-examined its overall procurement program.
“The OUAS assessment phase is expected to begin in the third quarter of this year, subject to the normal [MOD] approvals process,” says a Defense Ministry official. “Mantis will be one contender in the assessment phase and no firm commitments have been made with respect to future funding.”
Some industry sources say the assessment phase for the OUAS has very recently been given the go ahead by the ministry’s Investment Approvals Board as part of Planning Round 10.
The BAE Systems-led Mantis Spiral 1 development culminated in a series of test flights at the end of 2009, the only stage of the Mantis program for which funding had previously been approved.
Paul Drayson, minister for defense acquisition reform, says “funding is in place” to “maintain momentum” on Mantis, but also emphasized that the defense review has to be worked through.
“BAE Systems will continue to work with the Defense Ministry to understand the future direction of the program, part of which includes defining the next spiral development schedule,” says a company executive. The so-called Spiral 2 phase of Mantis would develop the system to at least an initial operation standard.
Sophisticated UAV and unmanned combat air vehicle procurement is also viewed within the government as a mechanism for potential renewed collaboration with France in developing advanced air systems. BAE and Dassault are already in exploratory talks as where they might be able to work together.
The Mantis UAV arrived back in the U.K. last week, having been transported from the Woomera test range in Australia on board an RAF Boeing C-17. Around six test-flights—including operationally representative missions—were carried out using the Woomera range as part of the Spiral 1 program.
Drayson, speaking on Mar. 9 at BAE Systems’ Warton facility which is developing the Mantis, noted: “Mantis was designed in the U.K. and built in the U.K. —the first aircraft with full sovereign control in 40 years.”
Operational sovereignty is a key issue for the Defense Ministry—and wider government—in determining which defense technology capabilities are to be retained at a national level. The Drayson-inspired 2005 Defense Industrial Strategy identified UAVs and unmanned combat air vehicles as one such area.
Drayson says the industrial strategy will be revisited as part of the defense review, which will get rolling immediately following a national election, widely anticipated to be held in early May.
“While they [UAVs] are up for discussion during DIS [Defense Industrial Strategy] 2—just like other capabilities —they stand for the potential of the U.K. defense and security industry. They epitomize the shift toward an ever- greater reliance on more sophisticated equipment—using the most advanced science and engineering to keep us safe and to support our troops. So I expect the U.K. to go on . . . designing them here, making them here.”
The ministry has already confirmed that the OUAS “assessment phase may well consider a collaborative development and production solution”.
Similarly the Taranis UCAV demonstrator, now undergoing ground testing at BAE’s Warton site, could be a precursor to Anglo-French collaboration. Although ground testing has begun later than originally planned, a first flight remains on track for this year. Integration of the propulsion element of the air vehicle, including the low-observable intake and exhaust sections, may have proved more challenging than was anticipated.