Beyond Neuron
Italians View UCAV Effort as Path to Emerging Joint Programs
ROME - Industrial officials planning Italy's contribution to the pan-European Neuron unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) program are also focusing their attention on subsequent joint programs that may emerge in Europe.
Launched in 2003 by Dassault and backed by French state funding, Neuron was pitched as a European technology demonstrator that would fuse know-how on the continent in a unique UCAV working group. Countries including Greece, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland and Spain signed up, but not Germany or the United Kingdom.
Alenia Aeronautica, which runs Italy's input, has never stopped working on UCAV-related technologies separate from its contributions to Neuron. And now managers have spoken about where those technologies might be used.
"Neuron cannot be considered a truly European program without Germany and the U.K., both of which are investing heavily," said Alessandro Amendola, Alenia's strategic business development manager.
"We are on two fronts and it is not clear what the future will be, but we need to be ready for it," he added. "As well as working closely with the Neuron partners, we are also thinking of a role in a possible post-Neuron program. Alenia needs to have the technology to guarantee that role, so while Neuron is about working on a certain part of the technology, and where everyone sticks within their own responsibility, we need to be doing everything."
Alenia has been testing UAV technologies on its Sky-X and Sky-Y demonstrators, and thinking ahead to two medium-altitude, long-endurance products for the market, starting with the Molynx, a civilian UAV with a 25-meter wingspan, 800-kilogram payload, a maximum altitude of 45,000 feet and 30-hour endurance.
The Blacklynx, a twin diesel-engine military UAV with armaments held under the wing, would boast a 25-meter wingspan, 800-kilogram payload, a maximum altitude of 45,000 feet and 36-hour endurance.
"These two programs are still being evaluated from a technical and business point of view," Amendola said.
Sky-X tests include automatic takeoff and landing, as well as an autonomous attack capability that forms part of its area of responsibility on Neuron. Other capabilities set to be tested on the platform, which has made 25 flights since its debut flight in 2005, include in-flight refueling and data exchange with other platforms.
Measuring 6.94 meters in length with a wingspan of 5.78 meters, the Sky-X has a takeoff weight of 1.45 metric tons, a maximum altitude of 25,000 feet and can fly for two hours.
While most of Sky-X's flights have taken place at the Vidsel test flight center in Sweden, the UAV has been flown 10 times from the Amendola air base in southern Italy, where the Italian Air Force stations its Predator UAVs and where it has struck a deal with Italy's civil aviation authority to carve out flight zones for UAVs.
"We are flying the Sky-X out of Amendola base, but since we make alterations to the platform for every flight, we need a new flying permit every time," said Riccardo Barzan, head of UAV development. "It is the same at Vidsel, but there it takes a few hours to get the permit; here it takes longer."
Enlarged UAV Flight Corridor
Italian authorities have recently extended the UAV flight zone, creating a corridor from Amendola air base, on Italy's east coast, out over the Mediterranean where it heads south, following the coastline all the way around the toe of Italy to the island of Sardinia off Italy's west coast.
The corridor ends at the Italian military test range of Salto di Quirra in Sardinia, where plans are afoot to build a runway to land UAVs.
Apart from offering ample testing opportunities for UAVs and linking to air bases, the corridor could also offer a handy flight path for the planned use of UAVs to monitor vessels containing migrants heading for Italian shores.
Surveillance is a key technology on Alenia's second flying UAV, the Sky-Y, which is 9.7 meters long with a wingspan of 9.9 meters. It has a 76-centimeter antenna for satellite navigation, a maximum takeoff weight of 1.2 metric tons, a payload of 150 kilograms, a maximum altitude of 25,000 feet and 14-hour endurance.
After making its debut flight in 2007, the Sky-Y is undergoing a series of tests and enhancements, starting with its diesel engine. "We need a two-stage, turbocharged diesel to get it to 30,000 feet," Barzan said. The new engine will be integrated alongside a new wing, with first flights in 2009 or early 2010, he added.
Autonomous target recognition will also be tested in 2009, while this September will see the first flight with the EOST45 electro-optic sensor built by Selex Galileo, which is meanwhile marketing its own Falco UAV. Selex Galileo and Alenia Aeronautica are both units of Finmeccanica, the Italian industrial group.
Using an infrared camera to assist the ground control station, the Sky-Y has made low-light takeoffs, while next year, autonomous taxiing will be tested using sensors and GPS. ■
E-mail: tkington@defensenews.com.
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