Future UAV

.S. Navy Awards Contracts
For Medium-Range UAV Studies


by Robert Wall


04/13/00 01:45:27 PM U.S. EDT

The U.S. Navy has taken the first concrete step toward developing a medium-range unmanned aerial vehicle by awarding risk assessment contracts to Boeing, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman.

Under the contracts totaling $3 million, the companies are supposed to help the Navy decide what course to pursue to field the Multi-Role Endurance UAV in the 2006-2014 timeframe.

The unmanned aircraft is intended to be sea-based and potentially capable of carrying weapons. The notional performance characteristics include 24-hour endurance with a 200 nm range. The medium-range system would augment the shorter-range vertical takeoff and landing UAV the Navy already is developing, program officials say.

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