ASW aircraft - what is needed?

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UAV in a Tube Could Keep P-8s Up There

Posted by Graham Warwick at 6/27/2008 9:49 AM CDT

Bill Sweetman blogged from the recent AUVSI show about U.S. Navy interest in UAVs that could be air-launched from its P-8 Poseidon to avoid the modified 737 wasting fuel and airframe life by dropping to low altitude to ID surface targets. One of the ideas being looked at is Lite Machines' coaxial-rotor Voyeur, an expendable UAV designed to be launched from standard sonobouy tubes.


Video: Lite Machines

Lite Machines plans air-launched flight tests of the 24in-tall Voyeur under the recently started third phase of its U.S. Navy small-business research contract. The battery-powered UAV will be launched from the sonobouy tube to parachute down, deploy from the canister, start up its rotors and descend to ID the target at close range.
It will have an endurance of 60-90 minutes, after which it will ditch in the sea and scuttle itself, says Lite Machines. The UAV will carry a camera that will tilt up 10-15deg and down 90deg, and pan through 360 degrees by rotating the vehicle using differential rotor rpm. ...

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Air Launched UAVs Extend Poseidon's Reach

Posted by Bill Sweetman at 6/11/2008 1:10 AM CDT

When the US Navy picked the 737-based Boeing P-8A to replace the P-3C Orion, some wondered whether the jet would match the P-3's efficiency at low altitude. The answer - it doesn't. Dipping to low level uses a lot of fuel and eats into endurance. As a result, the Navy has two projects going that use air-launched UAVs to complement the manned airplane. They're on show this week at the AUVSI convention in San Diego.
One program is looking at expendable UAVs that can be launched from standard sonobuoy tubes. Three designs are being funded for tests out of the Navy's Patuxent River flight test center, starting with launches from a Raytheon C-12 and continuing with trials from a P-3 later this year. They include Lite Machines' Voyeur, a design from L3 and the Advanced Ceramics Research Coyote. These vehicles are electrically powered and expendable, and the initial configuration would carry an electro-optical or infra-red sensor, mainly for positive visual ID of ships below a cloud deck.


Advanced Ceramics Coyote

More complex requirements are the goal of the Wing and Bomb Bay Launched (WBBL) UAV program. The Navy has Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contracts in this area with Piasecki, for its Turais UAV, and Acuity Technologies, with the AT-3 Owl. The WBBL-UAV systems are bigger, weighing up to 1,000 lb, and carry multiple payloads (including up to ten sonobouys), and have an endurance of up to eight hours. They are also designed so that they can recover to a land base after a mission.

( My comment: Why not launch a bigass propeller-propelled maritime patrol UAV from a land base as well as recover to a land base, then? Maybe the thing could fly in ground effect in milder sea states. )

AT-3 Owl

The Owl, for instance, has a large weapon bay and a 36 hp UEL rotary engine driving a ducted fan. The UAV could be used to expand a patrol airplane's surveillance area, or could be a gap-filler if the manned aircraft had to return to base because of an equipment problem. Phase II contracts, including tests of full-scale mechanical demonstrators, were awarded in May.

pics by Bill Sweetman

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