UAV Annual Report

THIS ANNUAL REPORT is an executive overview of the Defense Department's unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) program activities for 1994 - 95, *and complements our original UAV Program Plan submitted to the Congress in April 1994.

This has been a busy time for UAVs, and a highly successful one. As both user evaluations and contingency deployments indicate, our nation's UAV family is coming of age.

*A companion report on Manned Airborne Reconnaissance Systems is in preparation

DURING 1994, we awarded three endurance UAV contracts for Advanced Concept Technology Demonstrations (ACTDs) at five-month intervals:

	January:	Tier II, the Medium Altitude Endurance (MAE), "Predator";
	June:	Tier III-, the Low Observable High Altitude Endurance (LO HAE),"DarkStar"; and
	November:	Tier II+, the Conventional High Altitude Endurance (CONV HAE).

IN EACH OF THESE ACTDs, new milestones were established for streamlined acquisition, to include use of integrated product teams, off-the-shelf technologies, and the ACTD approach itself as a new way of doing business for defense program acquisition. The MAE Predator flew within six months of contract award. It is now flying in support of U.S. contingency operations in Bosnia. The MAE will fly with its all-weather synthetic aperture radar (SAR) early next year. A User Demonstration is scheduled for October 1995 to examine how the Predator and tactical Hunter systems complement each other. The LO HAE DarkStar achieved roll-out on 1 June 1995 -- literally within eleven months of contract award. The contract itself was just six pages long, and its Statement of Work eleven pages. DarkStar is scheduled for its first flight in December 1995. The CONV HAE has also met acquisition and performance objectives by documenting that five Phase I contract teams could all build a highly capable, moderately survivable UAV for a $10 million unit fixed price. The Phase II winner is building a UAV that carries approximately 2,000 pounds of payload out to 3,000 nautical miles for a minimum of 24 hours on-station.

OUR TACTICAL UAVs have also made significant progress. Five Hunter Tactical UAV systems, with 8 air vehicles each, had passed their acceptance tests with flying colors by August 1995, and all seven low-rate initial production (LRIP) systems should be accepted during FY96. One Hunter system's air vehicles flew 26+ hours in a 24-hour period, and demonstrated its relay capability to a range of 300 kilometers. On 19 May, Hunter systems passed their 3,000 flying-hour mark. Dr. Kaminski (USD(A&T)) approved a restructured Hunter program on 17 July 1995, and a "go/no-go" Milestone Review is now scheduled for December 1995. A new streamlined ACTD-like approach for the close range Maneuver UAV will be instituted in the Fall. Pioneer continues to serve CINC requirements and is providing a much-needed interim capability and operational experience until Hunter reaches its Initial Operational Capability (IOC).

OUR GOAL is extended reconnaissance -- the ability to supply responsive and sustained intelligence data from anywhere within enemy territory, day or night, regardless of weather, as the needs of the warfighter dictate. OUR VISION of an Objective Architecture is an evolving blueprint for an interoperable system comprising a complementary manned-unmanned force mix to answer tomorrow's warfighting needs. As we have articulated in our overall strategy, we plan to consolidate airborne reconnaissance platforms in the future. While the needs of the warfighter, worldwide, drive the operational requirements and technical complexity of our airborne reconnaissance and support systems, extended reconnaissance capabilities will increasingly support a widening range of post-Cold War military Operations Other Than War (OOTW) -- and an expanding range of additional government and commercial activities -- all of which can benefit from cost-effective, interoperable and reliable UAVs carrying a wide variety of mission-enabling payloads.

THREE KEY FACTORS in achieving our goal of extended reconnaissance in an Objective Architecture are enabling technologies, affordable systems, and a roadmap to get there. Of the 110 technologies identified in our 1994 Airborne Reconnaissance Technology Program Plan as relevant to airborne reconnaissance, 93 (or 85%) were deemed applicable to UAVs. Second, we understand that we must break from traditional acquisition practices and deliver quality systems to the warfighters -- better, quicker, and cheaper. And finally, these systems must support migration paths to the Objective Architecture, as delineated in our 1995 Airborne Reconnaissance Technical Architecture Program Plan and as shown for UAVs in the following migration plan.

ALSO INHERENT in the Objective Architecture and UAVs' roles within it are:

The need for systems to interoperate within a total force infrastructure and deliver their products in a common usable form to the warfighter in a timely manner. The Common Imagery Ground/Surface System (CIGSS) will perform this function for imagery. This area will receive increased emphasis in the coming months
Continuing health and responsiveness of our industrial base in the face of changing economic conditions and military markets. Without industry's technological leadership and support our most advanced capabilities will be unachievable
An evolving cost perspective that will reflect the true value of airborne reconnaissance products and services, as airborne reconnaissance and UAVs compete with, as well as complement, our other defense missions and forces
Leveraging current capabilities and programmed improvements with new acquisition strategies and technologies that use commercial/government off-the-shelf (COTS/GOTS) components and adhere to candidate standards.

WHY UAVs NOW? One of the most important lessons learned from the Persian Gulf War was the operational need for a family of UAVs, which the Congress reaffirmed.

Operation Desert Storm pointed to the requirement for a variety of UAVs to meet the operational needs of the tactical commander.

Department of Defense Appropriations Bill for Fiscal Year 1992

AS MENTIONED, we are also discovering that UAVs can be ideally used in Operations Other Than War, and the idea of "urban reconnaissance" for military operations in built-up areas makes a strong case for future vertical take-off/lift capabilities. UAVs have also attracted attention for Theater communications systems, ballistic missile boost-phase intercept (BPI) vehicles, signals intelligence (SIGINT) applications, and a host of other uses.

IN ADDITION, technology advances in air vehicle, payload, information processing and communications, driven by ever more stringent affordability criteria, are leading us to discover better business practices in "doing reconnaissance." These principles were identified in our April 1994 Integrated Airborne Reconnaissance Strategy, and reinforced in our Technology Plan. With this confluence of operational "pull" and technology "push," UAV and payload advantages in Theater mission environments include:

Broad area coverage and/or long dwell on target -- deriving from UAVs' inherent range-endurance tradeoff capabilities
Cueing of other sensors or weapon systems, especially precision guided munitions (PGM), with "sensor-to-shooter" connectivity
Lower costs -- of acquisition, of operation, and of support, both absolutely and relative to other reconnaissance systems providing equivalent products
Reduced losses, whether measured by attrition (aircraft losses) or by elimination of risk to human crews - as our Predator experience over Bosnia attests.

THE REST OF THIS REPORT summarizes our UAV systems and budget projections, our recent accomplishments, technology initiatives, our force mix and challenges. Our UAV strategy will be paralleled by similar activity for manned and supporting infrastructure systems as we continue to engage the overall reconnaissance and intelligence communities in our evolution towards excellence in airborne reconnaissance. It truly has been a landmark year for UAVs, and next year we will sustain this momentum by delivering more tactical UAVs, defining production plans for endurance UAVs, and optimizing the force mix.

Thank you for your continuing support.

Maj Gen Kenneth
R. Israel, USAF
Director, Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Office Supporting the Warfighter

Recent Highlights

Planned Investment (FY96/97 President's Budget: Then-Year Dollars in Millions)¹

UAV Share of Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Program (DARP)