Skunk Works® UCLASS Concept Video + F-35 bits

"Published on Apr 8, 2013
UPDATED: Lockheed Martin Skunk Works'® concept for the Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) air vehicle integrates technologies from F-35C, RQ-170 and other systems to provide persistent ISR and light strike capabilities. Lockheed Martin's innovative approach supports the Navy's efforts to develop an operational UCLASS capability within the current schedule and budget."

count_to_10 wrote:So, the part of that video that grabbed my attention was the VTOL jet landing on the back of that rear helo pad. I wonder what that was.

"Uploaded on Aug 19, 2010
VTOL Advanced Reconnaissance Insertion Organic Unmanned System (VARIOUS) is an advanced vertical take-off and landing Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) concept with unprecedented multi-role capabilities."

"...While the spokeswoman couldn't say anything about the plane beyond that it will be flying sometime around 2018 to 2020, she did provide Killer Apps with a quick fact sheet.

Lockheed says the jet will be based on its existing manned and unmanned planes and will feature a "maximum reuse of hardware and software," according to the factsheet posted below. (This means the plane will incorporate technology developed for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter as well as the RQ-170.) Still, the jet will need to have a tail hook added, wings that fold (to fit on a carrier's crowded deck), and have its airframe strengthened to withstand the pressures of catapult launches and arrested landings, as well as the corrosive sea air,

As you can see from these pictures, the plane doesn't feature the RQ-170's two large humps, which likely sensors contain communications gear, on the top and bottom of its fuselage. This is likely because the Sentinel was designed a decade or more ago and sensor and comms technology has shrunk in size dramatically since then.

Like all modern stealth jets, Lockheed's UCLASS bid features "signature control," meaning it doesn't just rely on a stealthy shape to remain undetected. It will feature a combination of radar absorbing coatings, heat-masking technology, and various ways of protecting its electronic emissions (radar, satellite communications, etc.) from detection by an enemy, according to the factsheet.

Finally, one operator aboard an aircraft carrier or ashore will be able to control multiple jets as they carry out missions. This last attribute is a key tenet of the UCLASS program, which seeks to field a fleet of semi-autonomous drones that can do everything from land themselves on aircraft carriers to refuel in midair with a pilot simply supervising the mission."

"...Killer Apps sat down with Rob Ruszkowski, Lockheed Martin's man in charge of making sure its new stealth drone becomes the U.S. Navy's next light-strike and reconnaissance jet....

...So, what kind of gear might the jet be equipped with to start? High-powered cameras and radars that will allow it to survey wide swaths of the sea and shore to identify targets from beyond the range of an enemy's most potent defenses.

The jet will carry some sort of electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) camera that's capable of doing wide area searches and battle damage assessment, "where you want a very, very high-resolution image," said Ruszkowski. "A lot of the things this type of aircraft might be used to gather intelligence on, might be in situations where you need to be further away" from the target in order to stay away from antiaircraft defenses. (The camera will not be based on Lockheed's Electro-Optical Targeting System, which is going on the F-35, he noted.)

The plane may also carry some sort of powerful surveillance radar -- similar to this one -- allowing it to identify targets moving along the sea or land and even to take snapshots through clouds using a technique called synthetic-aperture radar imaging.

While the jet will start its career as a spy plane that's capable of dropping about 1,000 pounds worth of bombs on targets it finds, it could eventually be used as an electronic-warfare platform or as a flying gas station refueling other Navy jets.

"I think the first aircraft that will go to early operational capability may only have an EO/IR sensor. That's up to the Navy. They might say, ‘Hey, we want to get this thing out there, fielded, doing some initial missions and maybe all it needs is an EO/IR sensor and the radar comes two or three years later,'" said Ruszkowksi.

Lockheed has yet to field a jet that can take off and land from an aircraft carrier with minimal human involvement -- something that the Navy and Lockheed's rival in the UCLASS effort, Northrop Grumman, are working to master right now with a program known as UCAS-D, which is meant to pave the way for UCLASS. Ruszkowski says he's not too worried about this since Lockheed has conducted simulated landings on carriers in rough seas and that it will receive information from the Navy about what it learns from UCAS-D. Hopefully, they will get the Sea Ghost's tail-hook design right. (We couldn't write an article about Lockheed and aircraft carrier jets without mentioning it.)"

"Secret warplane design shops hire teams of artists to generate images of future aircraft that the press and aviation-minded public then obsess over. But who are the real targets of this marketing, and how reliable are the images?...

..."This is the second F/A-XX graphic we released," VanNierop says. "After the first one, the customer (the Pentagon) said the aircraft could be optionally piloted. We said, hmm, let's look at the graphic again … There is usually context in the graphic, more than can we can say publicly."

What an aerospace analyst might see in an image could have nothing to do with the message being sent to the U.S. military. "What we wanted to do [with the F/A-XX image] is to show the customer that we want to be a player in this competition," VanNierop says.

A lot of the details in these images are the product of the in-house teams of graphics artists, not aeronautical engineers. "They do an amazing job, given the limited information we give them," VanNierop says.

Their rivals at Skunk Works agree that their press images can be taken too literally...."