ACTD – A unified effort by all participants Outrider By comparison, the TUAV ACTD (Outrider) evolved from an already-planned acquisition program, the Maneuver UAV. It faced the challenge of meeting both Army and maritime requirements with one air vehicle while meeting strict production unit cost thresholds. Also, it was perceived as an “off-the-shelf” system, both to enable early fielding and to meet cost limits. Thus, when significant engineering was required to meet range, engine and shipboard suitability goals, the program fell several months behind schedule. Since that time, a dozen successful flights have both validated its key subsystems and identified capabilities that were “too hard” to attain in a timely manner. For example, a gasoline engine has replaced the heavy fuel engine (HFE) option for the balance of the ACTD, with further HFE development to be consolidated in a separate effort. HAE UAVs In contrast, both Global Hawk and DarkStar were envisioned from the start as needing significant development to work as systems. On the other hand, the operational capabilities projected for each vehicle offered such operational benefits that, if the ACTD approach could enable an early assessment of their military worth, higher risks were well warranted. During this past year, both programs experienced delays for technical problems, but the year delay for each program will still enable their operational evaluation several years earlier than a traditional acquisition program. A more general set of ACTD lessons learned is listed below.5 5 See also RAND study MR-899-OSD, The Predator ACTD: A Case Study for Transition Planning to the Formal Acquisition Process, to be published Fall 1997.