Sunday, November 23, 2008

Class II UAV

Origin
United States of America

Description: The Class II Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) airborne surveillance platform concept was born within the broad US Army's Future Combat Systems initiative. Class II UAV will provide reconnaissance, early warning, target acquisition and designation at the company level in support of the line-of-sight, non-line-of-sight and beyond the line-of-sight engagements. Intended primarily as a vehicle-mounted system, Class II UAV will be able to take off and landing in unimproved areas and able to provide enhanced dedicated imagery. The system will accomplish its mission while being cued remotely by Army personnel.

The Class II UAV development will be conducted in parallel with DARPA's Organic Air Vehicle II (OAV II) program to ensure the highest degree of flexibility in meeting the Army's requirements. The prototypes resulting from both programs will be evaluated over 24-month and then only one concept solution will be selected to enter system design and development (SDD) in late 2007. The development program in support of Class II UAV was launched by Boeing and SAIC on November 22, 2004, as part of a US Army initiative to accelerate and expand FCS program development and fielding.

Following this initiative, DARPA awarded contracts funding three teams for phase I of OAV-II program. The contractors selected for OAV-II phase I are Aurora Flight Sciences, BAE Systems and Honeywell International. Each contractor will develop a ducted fan UAV prototype to reconnaissance and surveillance, path finding for both manned and robotic ground vehicles, maneuver force protection, and targeting for non-line-of-sight fire operations. At the end of three phases of OAV-II program a single contractor will be proposed for the Class II UAV SDD.

OAV-II phase I will last six-month. Thereafter, DARPA will select two contractors to continue Phase II that will perform detailed design of the air vehicle and ground elements for over nine-month. During phase II the program will focus on a collision avoidance system that will be demonstrated aboard a surrogate air vehicle. Phase III will be performed by the winner of Phase II critical design review. Over 33-month a single contractor will fabricate the air vehicle and integrate the collision avoidance system, both elements and the sensors payload (MEP) intended for Class II UAV will be demonstrated in-flight at the end of phase III.

The first Class II UAV system, once cleared for operational service, is expected to be deployed with the first FCS Unit of Action in 2014.

Specifications
Accommodation: Unmanned

Weights: Max Weight 51 kg (112 lb)

Performance: Endurance 2 hours, Max Range 10,000 m (32,808 ft)

News
FCS Class II and III UAVs First Phase Contracts Issued

Organic Air Vehicle II (OAV-II) Phase I Contracts Awarded

FCS Team Seeking Bids for Class II and III Unmanned Aerial System

Operators

United States of America

Notes
(*) lead contractor
IOC: Initial Operating Capability
FOC: Full Operating Capability
CEP: Circular Error Probable
Comm: Commissioning Date
Meters (m) Kilometers (km) Nautic Miles (nm) Inch (in) Yard (yd) Foot (ft) Millimeter (mm)
Pound (lb) Kilogram (kg) kN (KiloNewton) Ton (t)
Meters per Second (mps) Kilometers per Hour (kph) Knot (kt) Miles per Hour (mph)
Liter (l) Galon (gl)
Year (yr) Minutes (min) Second (sec)
Shaft-Horse-Power (shp)

Last Updated: Saturday, November 22, 2008

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