Huntsville firm developing UAVs
Unmanned aerial vehicles could be boost for Army
Sunday, October 23, 2005
Long known for its work on Apollo rockets and space stations, a Huntsville company is adding another aerospace expertise to its resume.
Teledyne Brown Engineering Inc. is developing a lightweight, quick response unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV, for the U.S. Army.
Called the Prospector, the UAV could be used quickly by troops in combat to locate enemy units, tanks and positions. It is transported by trucks and can be launched in a few minutes and flown to a target through a sophisticated computer autopilot.
"It's a hands off system," said Jerry Hamilton, Teledyne's Unmanned Aerial Systems program manager. "It flies point-to-point using software navigation."
Sophisticated sensors and cameras can be placed in Prospector's nose. If the sensor package installed in the UAV isn't needed, troops can quickly pull it out and put another one in, said Mike Defatta, Teledyne director of Hardware Programs.
"That ability is an absolute key to this program. It gives this much more flexibility versus other aerial systems."
Aerial vehicle work has growth potential, said Marty T. Runkle, Teledyne vice president. "If the UAV work increases, then I think there will definitely be more buildings going up around" Teledyne Brown "to produce them in quantity."
Because the program is being developed, there is no firm cost for a Prospector, but if Teledyne Brown sells the system, it could mean up to 50 jobs at the beginning and possibly more as the program grows.
The prototype design work is being done in Huntsville, but the Prospector is based on a vehicle the German army uses.
Teledyne Brown signed an agreement in December 2004 with Rheinmetall Defence Electronics GmbH to design and market a fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles.
The Army issued a preliminary $4.5 million contract in August that calls for test-program use of the Prospector as a possible UAV in combat systems.
"The end result will be that final assembly will be done here," Defatta said.
Because they keep people out of the line of fire or dangerous situations, unmanned aircraft are attractive to the Pentagon as well as law enforcement and fire protection services.
There are no telegrams to send home to survivors if a UAV doesn't come back from a mission.
"If you lose one for whatever reason, then you haven't lost a person, and that's very important not only for military (units) but also for other hazardous activities like forest fires and homeland security," Hamilton said.
Replacing spy satellites
More and more military commanders and intelligence officers are relying on UAVs to get quick information about an enemy. Intelligence experts say the UAV is picking up work that once was done by expensive, inflexible spy satellites.
A spy satellite can cost $100 million or more and another $100 million to launch. That makes a UAV that costs less than $1 million attractive, the Teledyne Brown managers said.
Also, satellites are not as flexible as a UAV, Hamilton said. "It's very complicated and expensive to retask, or change the orbit, of a reconnaissance satellite, and our system is aimed at the tactical commander in the field who needs information quickly."
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