USAF Hunter-Killer
Encyclopedia
Hunter-Killer is an unofficial project name based upon an Aviation Week & Space Technology
article. When USAF releases an official name, this article will be renamed to suit.
The U.S. Air Force's
Hunter-Killer program was a tactical
unmanned combat air vehicle
s procurement program.
The MQ-9 Reaper
won the project and is now being deployed in Afghanistan
.
The five candidates that were proposed were:
Raytheon
proposed a sixth option, whereby they would offer a combination of sensors, communications systems, and other mission-related systems as a package, and then choose an airframe at a later date. Raytheon's perspective was that, as long as it performs to a minimum set of specifications, the individual airframe is less important than the systems it will carry.
Although the J-UCAS concept is a long way from the early idea of a "reusable cruise missile", that notion is apparently alive and well. In September 2003, an announcement was made that Lockheed Martin's famous "Skunk Works
" was developing an air-launched UCAV named "the Minion". Details released describe it as having a launch weight of 3,400 kilograms (7,500 pounds) and able to carry a reconnaissance payload, a jammer system, a high-power microwave weapon, or four 100 kilogram (220 pound) GPS-guided small-diameter bombs. It could also be used as a decoy, though it would need to have radar-enhancement payload as it is described as extremely stealthy.
Range is given as up to 1,850 kilometers (1,000 nautical miles). Two would be carried into combat by a single strike fighter such as a Lockheed Martin F/A-22 Raptor, with one under each wing, and launched from standoff distances to attack heavily defended targets. In practice, two strike fighters are expected to be used, launching four Minions, with the pilot of one aircraft watching out for threats while the other directs the UCAVs over a line-of-sight communications link. After the mission, the Minions would return to base and land conventionally on retractable landing gear.
A vague picture released with the announcement showed the Minion to have a certain broad resemblance to various air-launched cruise missiles, such as the Anglo-French Matra-BAe Dynamics APACHE / Storm Shadow or the US AGM-158A Joint Air to Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM), which is also built by Lockheed Martin and may have some degree of commonality with the Minion. The picture showed the Minion to have a spikelike, square-sided fuselage, with pop-out wings and twin tailfins, with the engine inlet just forward of the tailfins and the exhaust just behind the tailfins. Both the intake and the exhaust are shielded by triangular covers.
Despite the stealthiness of the Minion, Lockheed Martin is designing it for low cost, to be substantially cheaper than the $400,000 USD JASSM. Rumors about a Skunk Works project involving a cruise-missile-like UCAV had been circulating for a year or two before the announcement. There were also very vague and unconfirmed rumors that the Minion was used in an operational evaluation during the invasion of Iraq in the spring of 2003.
There has been little or no mention of the Minion since that time. It is unclear if the program has been abandoned, or if it has just been placed under deeper secrecy. The second option seems plausible, since the current administration has been noted for being much more enthusiastic about military secrecy than previous administrations.
Somewhat more visibly, in the summer of 2004, the Air Force, in need of a less expensive short-term UCAV solution with a focus on endurance, opened up a competition for a "Hunter-Killer" UCAV. Specifications include:
Cost specifications were given as $10 million USD per aircraft and $30 million USD per "system", with each system including two aircraft and the necessary support gear. The Hunter-Killer program has attracted considerable interest and a number of interesting proposals.
Northrop Grumman has come up with two concepts. The first is the "Model 395", a militarized version of the Scaled Composites Proteus
modified to a pure UAV configuration, with a sensor turret under the nose and a SAR-MTI pod under the forward fuselage, and carrying munitions on the centerline, for example tandem triple racks to carry six 225 kilogram (500 pound) munitions. With reduced fuel, it could even carry a single 2,270 kilogram (5,000 pound) bunker buster
. At maximum takeoff weight, it would have a ceiling of 15,000 meters (49,000 ft).
The other Northrop Grumman proposal is effectively a half-weight Global Hawk, the "Model 396", with a wingspan of 10.7 meters (35 ft), a length of 27 meters (88.6 ft), and a gross weight of 6,800 kilograms (15,000 pounds), half that of the Global Hawk. It would be powered by a single Pratt & Whitney 545 bizjet turbofan.
General Atomics is of course offering the turboprop-powered Predator B for the role. Aurora Flight Sciences and Israel Aircraft Industries
are offering an armed Heron 2. Lockheed Martin has responded to the Air Force request but has been keeping quiet about their proposals. Boeing
did not submit a proposal, stating the company was busy with other UCAV work.
The Air Force wants to field the Hunter-Killer by 2007 and may order up to 60 machines. The program seems focused to avoid "gold plate
", and most of the avionics will likely be off-the-shelf
.
Aviation Week & Space Technology
Aviation Week & Space Technology, often abbreviated Aviation Week or AW&ST, is a weekly magazine owned and published by McGraw-Hill...
article. When USAF releases an official name, this article will be renamed to suit.
The U.S. Air Force's
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
Hunter-Killer program was a tactical
Tactical bombing
Tactical bombing is the aerial bombing aimed at targets of immediate military value, such as troops, military installations or equipment. This is in contrast to strategic bombing, attacking enemy's cities and factories to debilitate the enemy's capacity to wage war, the enemy's future military...
unmanned combat air vehicle
Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle
An unmanned combat air vehicle or combat drone is an unmanned aerial vehicle that is designed to deliver weapons without an onboard pilot. Currently operational UCAVs are under real-time human control, but future version may enable autonomous operation, for example with pre-programmed route and...
s procurement program.
The MQ-9 Reaper
MQ-9 Reaper
The General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper is an unmanned aerial vehicle , capable of remote controlled or autonomous flight operations, developed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems for use by the United States Air Force, the United States Navy, the CIA, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Royal...
won the project and is now being deployed in Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
.
The five candidates that were proposed were:
- Scaled Composites Model 395Scaled Composites Model 395The Scaled Composites Model 395 is an unmanned air vehicle which is currently under development. It is a derivative of the Scaled Composites Model 281 Proteus aircraft, and is being developed jointly with Northrop Grumman, who is funding the project....
- Scaled Composites Model 396Scaled Composites Model 396The Scaled Composites Model 396 is a derivative of the Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk aircraft. The Model 396 will be an unmanned combat air vehicle, and thus will differ from the Global Hawk in carrying a weapons load underneath the fuselage. It will also be about half the size and cost, but...
- General AtomicsGeneral AtomicsGeneral Atomics is a nuclear physics and defense contractor headquartered in San Diego, California. General Atomics’ research into fission and fusion matured into competencies in related technologies, allowing the company to expand into other fields of research...
MQ-9 ReaperMQ-9 ReaperThe General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper is an unmanned aerial vehicle , capable of remote controlled or autonomous flight operations, developed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems for use by the United States Air Force, the United States Navy, the CIA, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Royal...
(a variant of the MQ-1 Predator) - Aurora Flight Sciences/Israel Aircraft IndustriesIsrael Aircraft IndustriesIsrael Aerospace Industries or IAI is Israel's prime aerospace and aviation manufacturer, producing aerial systems for both military and civilian usage. It has 16,000 employees as of 2007...
Eagle/Heron 2 - Unnamed Lockheed MartinLockheed MartinLockheed Martin is an American global aerospace, defense, security, and advanced technology company with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, in the Washington Metropolitan Area....
Skunk WorksSkunk worksSkunk Works is an official alias for Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Development Programs , formerly called Lockheed Advanced Development Projects. Skunk Works is responsible for a number of famous aircraft designs, including the U-2, the SR-71 Blackbird, the F-117 Nighthawk, and the F-22 Raptor...
entry
Raytheon
Raytheon
Raytheon Company is a major American defense contractor and industrial corporation with core manufacturing concentrations in weapons and military and commercial electronics. It was previously involved in corporate and special-mission aircraft until early 2007...
proposed a sixth option, whereby they would offer a combination of sensors, communications systems, and other mission-related systems as a package, and then choose an airframe at a later date. Raytheon's perspective was that, as long as it performs to a minimum set of specifications, the individual airframe is less important than the systems it will carry.
History
This is the U.S. Air Force program for which several companies have developed vehicles.Although the J-UCAS concept is a long way from the early idea of a "reusable cruise missile", that notion is apparently alive and well. In September 2003, an announcement was made that Lockheed Martin's famous "Skunk Works
Skunk works
Skunk Works is an official alias for Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Development Programs , formerly called Lockheed Advanced Development Projects. Skunk Works is responsible for a number of famous aircraft designs, including the U-2, the SR-71 Blackbird, the F-117 Nighthawk, and the F-22 Raptor...
" was developing an air-launched UCAV named "the Minion". Details released describe it as having a launch weight of 3,400 kilograms (7,500 pounds) and able to carry a reconnaissance payload, a jammer system, a high-power microwave weapon, or four 100 kilogram (220 pound) GPS-guided small-diameter bombs. It could also be used as a decoy, though it would need to have radar-enhancement payload as it is described as extremely stealthy.
Range is given as up to 1,850 kilometers (1,000 nautical miles). Two would be carried into combat by a single strike fighter such as a Lockheed Martin F/A-22 Raptor, with one under each wing, and launched from standoff distances to attack heavily defended targets. In practice, two strike fighters are expected to be used, launching four Minions, with the pilot of one aircraft watching out for threats while the other directs the UCAVs over a line-of-sight communications link. After the mission, the Minions would return to base and land conventionally on retractable landing gear.
A vague picture released with the announcement showed the Minion to have a certain broad resemblance to various air-launched cruise missiles, such as the Anglo-French Matra-BAe Dynamics APACHE / Storm Shadow or the US AGM-158A Joint Air to Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM), which is also built by Lockheed Martin and may have some degree of commonality with the Minion. The picture showed the Minion to have a spikelike, square-sided fuselage, with pop-out wings and twin tailfins, with the engine inlet just forward of the tailfins and the exhaust just behind the tailfins. Both the intake and the exhaust are shielded by triangular covers.
Despite the stealthiness of the Minion, Lockheed Martin is designing it for low cost, to be substantially cheaper than the $400,000 USD JASSM. Rumors about a Skunk Works project involving a cruise-missile-like UCAV had been circulating for a year or two before the announcement. There were also very vague and unconfirmed rumors that the Minion was used in an operational evaluation during the invasion of Iraq in the spring of 2003.
There has been little or no mention of the Minion since that time. It is unclear if the program has been abandoned, or if it has just been placed under deeper secrecy. The second option seems plausible, since the current administration has been noted for being much more enthusiastic about military secrecy than previous administrations.
Somewhat more visibly, in the summer of 2004, the Air Force, in need of a less expensive short-term UCAV solution with a focus on endurance, opened up a competition for a "Hunter-Killer" UCAV. Specifications include:
- An operating altitude of 10.7 to 15.25 kilometers (35,000 to 50,000 ft).
- Endurance from 16 to 30 hours or more carrying a warload of 1,360 kilograms (3,000 pounds), in specific six 225 kilogram (500 pound) guided bombs.
- Fit of SAR/MTI or EO/IR sensors and laser target designator. Of course, the Hunter-Killer would be capable of performing surveillance or reconnaissance missions along with its active combat role.
Cost specifications were given as $10 million USD per aircraft and $30 million USD per "system", with each system including two aircraft and the necessary support gear. The Hunter-Killer program has attracted considerable interest and a number of interesting proposals.
Northrop Grumman has come up with two concepts. The first is the "Model 395", a militarized version of the Scaled Composites Proteus
Scaled Composites Proteus
The Scaled Composites Model 281 Proteus is a tandem-wing high-endurance aircraft designed by Burt Rutan to investigate the use of aircraft as high altitude telecommunications relays. The Proteus is actually a multi-mission vehicle, able to carry various payloads on a ventral pylon...
modified to a pure UAV configuration, with a sensor turret under the nose and a SAR-MTI pod under the forward fuselage, and carrying munitions on the centerline, for example tandem triple racks to carry six 225 kilogram (500 pound) munitions. With reduced fuel, it could even carry a single 2,270 kilogram (5,000 pound) bunker buster
Bunker buster
A bunker buster is a bomb designed to penetrate hardened targets or targets buried deep underground.-Germany:Röchling shells were bunker-busting artillery shells, developed by German engineer August Cönders, based on the theory of increasing sectional density to improve penetration.They were tested...
. At maximum takeoff weight, it would have a ceiling of 15,000 meters (49,000 ft).
The other Northrop Grumman proposal is effectively a half-weight Global Hawk, the "Model 396", with a wingspan of 10.7 meters (35 ft), a length of 27 meters (88.6 ft), and a gross weight of 6,800 kilograms (15,000 pounds), half that of the Global Hawk. It would be powered by a single Pratt & Whitney 545 bizjet turbofan.
General Atomics is of course offering the turboprop-powered Predator B for the role. Aurora Flight Sciences and Israel Aircraft Industries
IAI
IAI is an acronym for:* The Information Architecture Institute* Institute of Art and Ideas* Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research* International African Institute* International Association for Identification...
are offering an armed Heron 2. Lockheed Martin has responded to the Air Force request but has been keeping quiet about their proposals. Boeing
Boeing
The Boeing Company is an American multinational aerospace and defense corporation, founded in 1916 by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing Corporate headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois since 2001...
did not submit a proposal, stating the company was busy with other UCAV work.
The Air Force wants to field the Hunter-Killer by 2007 and may order up to 60 machines. The program seems focused to avoid "gold plate
Gold plating (analogy)
Gold plating in software engineering refers to continuing to work on a project or task well past the point where the extra effort is worth the value it adds...
", and most of the avionics will likely be off-the-shelf
Commercial off-the-shelf
In the United States, Commercially available Off-The-Shelf is a Federal Acquisition Regulation term defining a nondevelopmental item of supply that is both commercial and sold in substantial quantities in the commercial marketplace, and that can be procured or utilized under government contract...
.
External links
- "New Concepts Have Emerged for USAF Unmanned Hunter-Killer Aircraft." Aviation Week & Space TechnologyAviation Week & Space TechnologyAviation Week & Space Technology, often abbreviated Aviation Week or AW&ST, is a weekly magazine owned and published by McGraw-Hill...
. September 19, 2004.