Phantom Ray, Boeing's new Unmanned Airborne System (UAS) made its first flight exactly 1 year ago on April 27th 2011 at Edwards Air Force Base. It is the result of rapid prototyping techniques which meant it only took 2 years for full development.
We haven't heard much about its deployment - or is that being kept confidential ?
I was asked to speak at the "Autonomous Vehicle Showcase" event on Friday which was organised by the Aviation and Defence KTN. My talk was on "Active & Passive RFID, RTLS and WSN opportunities" and it was an excellent event.
One of the exhibitors was Matthew Bennett of "Skycircuits" m.bennett@skycircuits.com who was demonstrating a really simple UAV designed for "in-flight" testing of innovative UAV technologies. The concept was brilliant and I left the event thinking that this could be a really good way of proving some of my ideas in the UAV space
Thales cuurently provides the British Army in Afghanistan with "ISTAR by the hour" (intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance) with a fleet of Elbit Hermes 450s based at Camp Bastion (pictured above)
This fleet will be replaced by the Watchkeeper WK450 later this year. The WK450 which first flew in April will provide some interesting new capabilities - strengthened wing, rugged undercarraige and deicing. The WK450 which is fully net-enabled has a 16-18 hour endurance and is fully autonomous. Payload options will be significantly improved.
In-theatre UAVs are proving to be very important but the capabilities of strategic and tactical UAVs are beginning to merge. Should all UAV assets and capablities be combined into a single joint force managed from a single base in the UK ?
The Royal Air Force's 39 Squadron MQ-9 Reaper UAV's are operated in Afghanistan from the USAF's main UAV base at Creech AFB Nevada.
As part of the UK Governments upcoming Defence Review could there be a logic in basing all the UK's UAV assets at a single operations/intelligence base like Wyton where they could benefit from UK advanced research activities in sensor equipment, communications and materials.
Northrop Grumman's Global Hawk was used to provide immediate assistance for the Haiti earthquake disaster by being on station within 37 hours of the event. Total support for Haiti was six flights, 122 flight hours and 3,600 images rapidly distributed.
The USAF reportedly has 77 Global Hawks and there is interest from other governments and agencies. Being able to fly above 60,000 ft with a 3000 lb payload provides a sizable capability.
The Zephyr High-Altitude Long-Endurance (HALE) Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) is an ultra-lightweight carbon-fibre aircraft. Weighing in at only 50 Kilograms it is 22.5 m long and flies on solar power generated by amorphous silicon arrays covering the aircraft’s wings, no thicker than sheets of paper. It is powered day and night by rechargeable lithium-sulphur batteries that are recharged during the day using solar power.
During July 2010 the Zephyr which is built by Qinetic achieved a 14 day, 21 minute flight reaching an altitude of 70,000. In itself this flight doubled the world endurance record but it is thought that the Zephyr can actually stay aloft for months on end.
The Taranis UCAS advanced technology demonstrator was rolled out on the 12th July at Warton during a very "Hollywood" style public launch and flight trials are due to start in 2011. (UCAS stands for Unmanned Combat Aircraft System)
The Taranis programme has been valued at £143m and is jointly funded by the UK MoD, BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce, GE Aviation and Qinetic.
It will be really interesting to see whether a clear strategy for Long Range & Stealthy UAV's will feature in the Autumn Defence Review. As well as Taranis there are a large number of UAV options to be considered.
During my visit to the Farnborough Air Show last year I was struck by how quickly Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV's) had developed and the large variety of roles to which they had been adapted. At the time of a large scale review of Defence expenditure in the UK there is a real opportunity for Greater Cambridgeshire in this new and vital aviation sector.
The attached video shows the new Boeing Phantom Eye UAV. It is a good example of a "High Altitude Long Endurance" (HALE) vehicle which can loiter over global trouble spots for up to 10 days at a time. This makes basing in East Anglia a real possibility for operations in Afghanistan. There are also equally interesting civilian application opportunities.
The vehicle is extremely environmentally friendly being propelled by 2 truck engines fuelled by liquid and gaseus Hydrogen and producing only Oxygen as a bi-product. The low weight composite construction materials and fabrication methods are a key ingredient.
As a payload it can carry a sophistcated array of sensors and communication equipment with the ability to take airborne intelligence and surveillance to new levels.
All the attributes and capabilities to produce and operate a vehicle like the Phantom Eye are already uniquely available within the "Greater" Cambridgeshire "high technology" cluster.
- Operating and intelligence interpretation at bases in East Anglia
- Aircraft manufacturing in Cambridge, Ramsay, Stevenage supported by expertise from the Institute for Manufacturing IfM at Cambridge University
- Leading Sensor, Communication and RFID expertise in Cambridge
- Composite materials expertise and capability in Huntingdon
- Environmental expertise and capability in Peterborough.
Plans for a new Local Economic Partnership for a "greater" Cambridgeshire could really take advantage of the opportunities of this new new "Aviation and Defence" sector.
Spent a really excellent day at Farnborough 2010. Made some good contacts and confirmed some of my impressions of the Aviation and Defence marketplace. Despite some concerns around the UK Defence Review the market is generally bouyant and some of the "stage managed" purchase announcements were very impressive.
The event was dominated by some major aircraft "launches". The Airbus A380, the Airbus A400M "Gizzly" and the Boeing 787 "Dreamliner" There was also a large selection of UAVs on display - the Watchkeeper WK450, the Taranis stealthy UCAS and the Predator B.
UID part identification and RFID opportunities were noticably absent in the exhibition area - which I found strange. Considering that the DoD mandate is now well established and the F35 and Dreamliner are now coming into service using the part identification technologies. Compared with the other markets in which I operate - I found the organisational Eco-systems quite confused and uncoordinated.
However, there is an undoubted potential market for UID and RFID in aviation and defence and opportunities for Delivery Management. The UAV market also looks interesting.
I intend to follow industry developements in this field through this blog - and provide an innovation narrative on opportunities in this field
Phantom Ray, Boeing's new Unmanned Airborne System (UAS) made its first flight exactly 1 year ago on April 27th 2011 at Edwards Air Force Base. It is the result of rapid prototyping techniques which meant it only took 2 years for full development.
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