Tier drones -- Summary

The 'Tier' designations are ARPA 'procurement' project names, not official military designations, which may be assigned later. The main reason that these drones are ARPA projects, is the ability to procure the systems under a new 'Section 845 -- Other Agreements Authority' granted to ARPA by Congress, for prototype development outside of the burden of normal defense procurement regulations and statutes.

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The vehicle has an endurance of 24 to 30 hours at 5,000 to 15,000 feet with a small EO (Electro-Optical) payload.

Two were bought by the CIA, but one crashed at the CIA's El Mirage, CA, test facility, due to software changes, made by CIA personnel, which lead to the shut down of the engine while the aircraft was on its landing approach. The remaining is owned by the CIA, and another one is leased, together with a ground station. A two-seat Schweizer RG-8A 'Condor', previously used by the USCG, is used as a data-relay aircraft.

Maybe 3 more Tier 1 ('Gnat 750's, originally ordered by Turkey) and a ground station will be procured, and the drones may be updated with the Tier 2 engine (the Rotax 912). They were/are used from Albania and Croatia to monitor the war in the former Yugoslavia (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia etc.)

The 'Gnat 750' was originally developed out of the 'Amber 1' UAV, designed by Leading Systems, Inc., and some are used for research purposes, e.g. Lockheed Martin operates a modified 'Gnat 750', for the Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), as AMR-RPV for atmospheric tests in Alaska.

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It is ready for crisis deployments, and is used in Bosnia. It was flown daily from Ft. Huachuca, AZ, with EO (Electro-Optical) and IR (InfraRed) cameras and LOS (Line-Of-Sight) data links -- and some are now fitted with satellite data links for OTH (Over-The-Horizon) flights. All originally planned 10 aircraft were delivered before March 1995.

Tier 2 UAVs participated with great success in the exercise 'Roving Sands', a combined theater ballistic missile defense and integrated air defense exercise, lasting from April to May 1995, based at Ft. Bliss, TX and the White Sands Missile Range, NM, but reaching out over a four-state area in a hunt for Scud-type mobile missiles. The Predators were tested at Libby Auxiliary Airfield (AAF) in Arizona. Vehicle #7 crashed at El Mirage Airport, CA -- the CIA / General Atomics UAV test facility -- on 6/12/1995 after a test flight, and another was lost over Bosnia on 8/11/1995, presumed to have been shot down by Bosnian Serb forces. On 8/14/1995, another 'Predator' was intentionally destroyed by flying it into a mountainside, because it developed engine trouble at the end of an operational mission. The Albania based 'Predators' use UHF satellite communications links for still photographs and some have Ku-band satcom links (similar to the 'C-Span' system used by U-2s) for real-time video. The 9th and 10th vehicle -- equipped with SAR -- will be shipped to Albania before 12/31/1995.

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The Winning Team Comprises

• Teledyne Ryan Aeronautical, San Diego, CA (team leader, overall design)
• E-Systems Melpar Div. (ground stations)
• Rockwell International (wings)
• Loral Communications Systems (formerly Unisys)
• Allison Engine Co.
• Hughes Aircraft's Radar Systems and Electro-Optical Systems Divisions
• GDE Systems (mission planning software)
• Heroux Inc., Canada (landing gear)

Some of the Losing Teams were

• Raytheon/Lockheed Martin
• E-Systems Greenville/Grob Aircraft, (with its EVER drone, based on the Grob D 500)
• Motorola/Boeing/Hughes
• Northrop Grumman

Other Offers

• TRW/IAI, Sierra Vista, AZ
  offering the 'E-Hunter', a modified 'Hunter' UAV, equipped with the bigger wing of IAI's 'Heron' long-endurance UAV.
• Mission Technology Inc, Hondo, TX
  offering its Valkyrie twin-engined, joined-wing, concept, with a range of 4,500 miles and a speed of 220 kts.

Costs and Schedules

• The Phase Two contract of $164 million (the amount is subject to negotiation) was awarded to Teledyne Ryan by the DoD's Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) on behalf of the Pentagon's Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Office (DARO).
• The complete program may cost up to $500 million.
• The unit flyaway price is supposed to be $10 million in FY 1994 dollars.
• Phase Two comprises a 31-month, advanced development and flight test program, including the design, building and testing of two advanced development air vehicles and a ground station, followed by a 12-month flight and systems test program.
• this is followed by Phase Three, which includes up to eight additional demonstration aircraft and two ground stations, which would undergo a two year operational demonstration.
• Congress wanted to add $60 million in FY 1996 to the Tier 2+ program, but the Senate Intelligence Committee (or the House Permanent Subcommittee on Intelligence) now wants to cancel it in favor of more Tier 3- vehicles.
  They always wanted to join or consolidate the two projects (Tier 2+ and Tier 3-).

Proposed Technical Data for the Teledyne Ryan Design

• Purpose: non-stealthy, heavy-payload, long-endurance, near real-time battlefield surveillance UAV.
• Construction: standard aluminum frame with composite secondary structures, and all composite wing.
• Wing Span: 116 ft.
• Length: about 40 ft. (compared to 6 ft. person in drawing)
• Height: about 12 ft. (compared to 6 ft. person in drawing)
• Gross Takeoff Weight: 20,000 - 25,000 lb.
• Performance: 24 hours endurance at a range of 3,000 nm. from its base, flying at an altitude of 65,000 ft.
• Engine: one modified Allison AE 3007 turbofan, with 7,200 lbf. static thrust at sea level -- currently rated only up to 50,000 ft.
• Payload: 1,800 lb, comprising: threat warning and detection, countermeasures (jamming capability and reel-out/reel-in decoy deception system), 48-in. satellite dish for data link (like C-Span), operating in the Ku and UHF frequencies for wide-band data links of near real-time images, video, and targeting data, SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar, EO (electro-Optical) and IR (InfraRed) sensors.

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The Winning Team Comprises

• Lockheed Martin's Advanced Development Company 'Skunk Works' (who calls it "DarkStar") is responsible for the body (the fuselage), the body systems, and final assembly;
• Boeing Defense and Space Group's Military Airplane Division builds the wings and autonomous controls, integrates the avionics and some of the sensors;

Costs and Schedules

• The project is about 2 years ahead of Tier 2+.
• The unit flyaway price is supposed to be $10 million in FY 1994 dollars.
• The original $124 million contract covers two prototype vehicles, a basic ground station and the first phase of the flight test program (21 months are covered, July 1994 through March 1996).
• Roll-out (or walk-in) was on 6/1/1995 at Palmdale, and flight testing is planned for 8/1995 from Edwards AFB. The first prototype arrived at NASA's DFRC in July, and the second probably in August.
• The program is two months ahead of schedule, and the flight test program could be finished by the end of November 1995.
• The RCS of the second prototype is planned to be measured at Lockheed's Helendale facility, next spring.
• Eleven to twenty vehicles could be procured, and would be operated by an Air Combat Command (ACC) unit, the newly established 11th Reconnaissance Squadron (RS) at Nellis AFB, NV, which will be based at Indian Springs AAF, inside the restricted range area, adjacent to US-95, between Las Vegas and Mercury, directly south of Groom Lake. The exact number of the Tier 3- and the Tier 2+ will be determined later, but a force structure of 20 each (plus 50 Tier 2) is being envisioned.
• During 1998-99, various exercises will be conducted to find out how many of each system would be required. The exercises might also include U-2R/S and other assets;

Technical Data and Layout

• Construction: mainly graphite composites, with an aluminum fuselage carry-through spar for the wing.
• Appearance: the UAV was variously described as: "a miniature B-2 flying wing", "Frisbee with wings", "Semi-boomerang", and "Saucer-Shaped").
  The fuselage (or body) of the drone resembles the B-2 fuselage in profile. It looks a little bit like the space-ship 'DarkStar' from the John Carpenter SF-movie of the same name, or even more like the space ship 'Voyager' from the STNG follow-on TV-show of the same name.
• Wings: it has slightly forward swept wings: 4.5 deg. for the trailing edge and 0.5 deg. for the leading edge.
• Wing Span: 69 feet (after insertion of two 2-foot wing-root extensions, to increase wing incidence (or decrease body incidence) by 2 deg. -- wind tunnel tests had shown, that the body created high-drag vortices when flying at higher AoA).
• Wing Area: 321 square feet.
• Aspect Ratio: 14.8;
• Mean Aerodynamic Chord: 56.5 inch;
• Root Chord: 69 inch;
• Tip Chord: 41.7 inch;
• Taper Ratio: 0.60;
• Dihedral: 2 deg.;
• Lift to Drag Ratio: about 30 to 1;
• Length of Fuselage: 15 feet (and about 12.5 feet wide);
• Height: 5 feet;
• Control Surfaces: the outer control surfaces are split-flap ruddervons like on the B-2, and the inner surfaces are both elevons. The vehicle has no vertical surfaces nor a tail.
• Engine: one Williams-Rolls FJ44, producing about 1,900 lbf. static thrust at sea-level, buried inside the fuselage, with the air-inlet and jet-exhaust invisible from below. The engine is visible from head on, and the rectangular jet-exhaust resembles the F-117's layout.
• Growth: a 5 inch longer growth version of the FJ44 with 18% more thrust (resulting in a 10,000 feet higher ceiling), could be accommodated;
• Performance: loiter 8 hours over a target area at 500 nm (nautical miles) range, at an altitude of 45,000 feet, and reach 130 KEAS (Knots Equivalent AirSpeed) / 300 KTAS (Knots True AirSpeed) cruise speed (with 1,000 lb payload).
• Coverage: supposed to be able to cover 15,000 sq. nm (nautical miles) at 1 meter resolution and make 600 spot images at 0.3 meter resolution and have 20-meter CEP (Circular Error Probability) to target precision weapons.
• Empty (or Zero Fuel) Weight: 5,640 lb. with the radar payload (and about 5,440 lb. with the EO payload).
• Fuel Capacity: over 3,000 lb.
• Maximum Gross Takeoff Weight: 8,600 lb. -- limited by the landing gear capacity.
• Payload: 1,000 lb. comprising either a Westinghouse SAR, also used in the Tier 2 drone, and developed for the canceled A-12 or an EO sensor, a Recon/Optical Inc. television camera (200 lb. lighter than SAR), which are located in a port (left) payload bay, while the avionics are located in a similar bay on the starboard (right) side.
• Communications: three flush mounted satellite antennas are located on top of the 'saucer-shaped' body, one for data links (like C-Span), operating in the Ku-band, one for GPS, and one for command and control functions, operating with UHF frequencies.
• Other Features: two flush-mounted static pressure ports are in the front, and an ECS vent is located on top of the body, and a pitot-tube is located inside the engine air-inlet.
  
• The Landing Gear: is adopted from the Starkraft experimental aircraft, and has a two-position strut to increase the angle for B-52-style unrotated takeoff, because the elevons have not enough authority at about 110 kts. -- the takeoff speed -- for rotation. The landing speed is about 100 kts.
• The Prototype: has an additional (nearly 5 feet long) air-data probe boom protruding from under the fuselage and a small telemetry blade antenna on top of the body, both associated with flight testing.
• Stealth: the aircraft is optimized for a low RCS toward the ground, with two side 'spikes', which are supposed to point away from known radar threats, by planning the flight path accordingly. The aircraft is designed to defeat two radar wavelength:
  140 to 180 MHz (UHF), used by early warning radars, and
  8 to 12 GHz (X-band), used by fighter radars.
  The aircraft is painted black on the underside, to make it difficult to spot visually at altitude, and white on top, to protect the composite resins from sunlight. Both prototypes are treated with RAM (Radar Absorbent Material) for LO (Low Observable);

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• AW&ST Nov 01, 1993
  • p.23: 'Gnat goes splat' and 'Speaking of Reconnaissance'
• AW&ST Nov 08, 1993
  • p.28: 'Pentagon-CIA UAV gains new significance'
• AW&ST Jan 31, 1994
  • p.20: 'CIA to deploy UAVs in Albania'
• AW&ST Feb 07, 1994
  • p.54: 'Gnat-750 may raise profile of UAVs'
• AW&ST Feb 14, 1994
  • p.19: 'Gnats weathered out' and 'Mission impossible'
• AW&ST Jun 06, 1994
  • p.23: 'Spying on Bosnia'
• AW&ST Jul 11, 1994
  • p.20: 'CIA to fly missions from inside Croatia' and 'UAV roles defined'
  • p.21: 'Stealthy UAV is a flying wing'
  • p.22: 'Tier 2 UAV aborts first test flight'
• AW&ST Nov 28, 1994
  • p.28: 'Predator UAV produces high-quality images'
• AW&ST Jan 09, 1995
  • p.22: 'U.S. military to boost tactical recon in '95'
• AW&ST Feb 06, 1995
  • p.18: 'U.S. black programs stress lean projects'
• AW&ST May 29, 1995
  • p.26: 'Teledyne Ryan team wins Tier 2+ UAV competition'
• AW&ST Jun 05, 1995
  • p.22: 'U.S. readies Predator for missions in Bosnia'
• AW&ST Jun 12, 1995
  • p.41: 'Tier 3 Minus to test value of stealth'
• AW&ST Jun 19, 1995
  • p.52: 'Mission of Tier 3- reflected in design'
• AW&ST Jul 10, 1995
  • p.40: 'International market eyes endurance UAVs'
  • p.42: 'UAV force concept' and 'New sensors show two paths to reconnaissance'
  • p.47: 'Predator to make debut over war-torn Bosnia'
  • p.49: 'Tier 2+ tricks enemy missiles'
  • this issue has also a lot of other UAV/RPV articles:
    • p.50: 'ERAST to probe limits of flight'
    • p.52: 'Aurora focuses UAV efforts on high-altitude flight'
    • p.54: 'IAI reveals endurance UAV'
    • p.55: 'Hunter to provide data for tomahawks in test'
    • p.56: 'Decision time approaches for Dormant Maneuver UAV'
• AW&ST Jul 24, 1995
  • p.20: 'Imagery from Bosnia expected to improve'
• AW&ST Jul 31, 1995
  • p.20: 'New UAV force forms at Nellis'
• AW&ST Aug 21, 1995
  • p.24: 'Two Predators destroyed in Bosnia'
• AW&ST Aug 28, 1995
  • p.23: 'Army pushes missile for UAV use'
• AW&ST Nov 27, 1995
  • p.52: 'Air Force prepares new UAV acquisitions, operations'

1. It seems, that the Strategic Reconnaissance and Intelligence gathering role is filled by:
   • Satellites (of all sorts, including KH-11, KH-12, and predecessors, as well as DSP-647, Advanced Jumpseat and others)
   • SR-71 (after they are operational, again)
   • E-3 AWACS (for AEW missions)
   • RC-135 and EP-3 (mainly for ELINT missions)
   • (Aurora, if it exists)
2. The Medium-Range (between pure strategic and pure tactical) Reconnaissance and Surveillance role (including AEW and ASW) is filled by:
   • U-2R/S (some equipped with C-Span data links) for PHOTINT/SIGINT
   • Tier 2 (kinda operational)
   • Tier 2+ (after they are operational)
   • E-2 (for AEW missions)
   • S-3 (for ASW missions)
   • E-8 Joint-STARS (for ground surveillance)
3. And the pure Tactical Reconnaissance, Surveillance and Targeting role is filled by:
   • tactical fighter (like RF-4C, and podded systems like TARPS, carried by F-16, F-15, F-14, etc.)
   • older FAC systems (like OA-37B, OA-10A, OV-10D, OH-58D, etc.)
   • older UAVs (Mastiff III, Hunter, Pioneer, Pointer)
   • older battlefield ELINT and ground surveillance systems (like RU-8, RV-1, RU-21, RC-12, EH-1, RG-8)
   • USCG systems (HU-25, RG-8, 'RU-38')
   • RAH-66 (after they are operational)
   • Tier 1 (in CIA use)
   • Tier 3- (after they are operational)
   • (TR-3A, if it exists)

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