Uclass never had stable requirements, so Lockheed and General Atomics purposefully chose not to invest in flying prototypes. Northrop Grumman was the only other Uclass competitor to develop a flying prototype, the crank-kite X-47B carrier-based UAV demonstrator, but company leadership opted out of the MQ-25A competition, probably because the X-47B could not meet new fuel-offload requirements at range without a complete redesign.
Boeing Phantom Works MQ-25 program chief Donald “BD” Gaddis, however, has confidence his design can meet the Navy’s requirements “with margin.” The company first revealed the aircraft in December 2017 and has given several news outlets, including Aviation Week, a firsthand look at the aircraft in St. Louis.
Having a prototype aircraft does give Boeing a running start in the competition, but whether an airframe designed for Uclass can truly carry forward to MQ-25A remains to be seen. Boeing says having an aircraft on hand will accelerate testing by adding a fifth airframe to the four-aircraft development program.
The aircraft still has not flown, and Boeing’s rivals wonder why. If the company has confidence in its configuration, surely the Navy would be interested in seeing it fly before making a source-selection decision.
However, flying is risky. Boeing probably does not want to take that gamble until it has a contract in hand. The company confirms that the aircraft may fly this year or next, but not until after the Navy’s summer award.
Ahead of the conference, Boeing revealed its choice of engine, the Rolls-Royce AE3007N. On the military side, the 9,000-lb.-thrust turbofan powers the Northrop Grumman Air Force RQ-4B Global Hawk and Navy MQ-4C Triton high-altitude surveillance UAVs. Commercially, it powers the Cessna Citation X/X+ and Embraer Legacy 600/650 business jets.
Phantom Works has by far the most intriguing air vehicle of all the competitors and it is popular among aviation enthusiasts. The aircraft is unlike anything we have seen before, and video of the aircraft performing deck-handling demonstrations in St. Louis and some computer animation gives the fullest picture yet of the design.
Most noticeable is the chine around the fuselage, perhaps an early attempt at signature reduction against surface radars. Another feature that would reduce its radar cross-section marginally is the top-mounted dorsal inlet, which can only be fully appreciated from above. This type of inlet was employed on Northrop Grumman’s Tacit Blue, a first-generation stealth demonstrator, but this configuration typically has trouble ingesting air on startup and during high angles of attack.
However, the company notes that this aircraft was not designed to be stealthy in the traditional sense, since its shape does not conform to any of the principles of radar deflection. Its long, fold-up wings would shine like a beacon on radar.
As the video displays, the aircraft has a sensor ball mounted centerline on its chin for “light” intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. It has two stores positions, one on each inboard wing, with the refueling pod mounted on the left. It is also apparent that the landing gear has been taken from the Super Hornet, just as the Lockheed entry repurposes landing gear from the F-35C.
Boeing is actively concealing its method for directing the aircraft around the flight deck. In the past, the teams have tried leading the aircraft with rope or using line-of-sight remote controls, but Lockheed and General Atomics opted for onboard cameras and gesture-recognition technology, respectively. Boeing has gone with a different approach but carefully trimmed it from all videos shown at Sea-Air-Space.
Boeing took the opportunity at the exposition to squash rumors that it had a second prototype in the works. Boeing and Saab built two flying prototypes for the Air Force T-X competition, but there is no second prototype for MQ-25A, a spokeswoman for the company confirms.
The ultimate decision now rests with the Navy, which anticipates a contract award this summer. As with most highly contested contracts, the losers may delay the program by protesting the source-selection decision through the Government Accountability Office.
Industry sources confirm that the teams have already started receiving evaluation notices from Naval Air Systems Command, an indication that the process is moving forward.
The fixed-price development contract will deliver four aircraft initially, with first flight required by fiscal 2021 and initial operational capability scheduled for fiscal 2026. Follow-on production contracts would procure as many as 72 aircraft for the carrier air wings.
For invested parties and drone enthusiasts alike, MQ-25A will be this summer’s blockbuster as the Navy hands down its verdict.
|
Ingen kommentarer:
Legg inn en kommentar
Merk: Bare medlemmer av denne bloggen kan legge inn en kommentar.