Air: BAMS: timing is everything | ADM February 2013

One month after the rollout last June of Northrop Grumman’s first MQ-4C Triton Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) UAV, the proposed acquisition for the ADF of up to seven high altitude, long endurance (HALE) UAVs for maritime patrol and other surveillance was advanced by four years in the 2012 Defence Capability Plan (DCP).

COINCIDENCE or not, Triton’s selection over General Atomics’ Predator B-based Mariner UAV for the US Navy’s (USN’s) BAMS requirement makes it the front runner for Air 7000 Phase 1B (multi-mission unmanned aircraft system (MUAS) at a cost the DCP anticipates at between $2 billion and $3 billion.

Initial Operating Capability (IOC) for an Australian MUAS was advanced by the DCP from 2022-25 to 2019-22. Of more immediate interest, the Year-of-Decision was moved from 2019-2022 to 2015-18, with First Pass in 2013-15.

These changes illustrate the vagaries of a program first mentioned in the 2001 DCP under JP 2062. This envisaged final approval in 2004/05 for an undisclosed number of Global Hawk HALE unmanned platforms at a cost of between $100-$150 million, and delivery of the first aircraft in 2007.

While the 2004 DCP retained 2004/05 as the Year-of Decision, anticipated costs soared to $750-$1 billion and first delivery was delayed to 2009-2011. Two years later, the 2006 DCP optimistically left the timing of first delivery unchanged but increased the suggested budget to $1-$1.5 billion while pushing back final approval until 2007/08.

The intention at that time was for the MUAS to enter service in advance of the manned replacements for the RAAF’s 18 ageing AP-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft, the first of which were to be delivered between 2015-17 under Air 5000 Phase 2B.

Defence agreed in 2007 to participate with the USN in the system development and demonstration (SDD) phase of BAMS, but program slippage saw then-Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon withdraw Australian involvement two years later.

This was to avoid, he said, workforce pressures that would have resulted from the near-simultaneous induction into service of the MUAS and the eight Boeing P-8A multimission aircraft selected, along with the proposed MUAS, to replace the Orions.

The five-year 2009 DCP simply noted that Defence would work on plans for a MUAS capability for government’s consideration beyond 2019. However, the December 2010 DCP update, reverting to a 10-year view, scheduled the Year of Decision as 2019-22 and IOC as 2022-25, timings which remained until last year’s changes.

With P-8A IOC anticipated between 2017 and 2020, a theoretical two-year gap now exists between the initial operational readiness of the two platforms; presumably sufficient to address workforce and support issues without unnecessarily delaying the introduction into service of either of the two complementary capabilities.

Specifications

The MQ-4C Triton is based on the RQ-4N, a maritime derivative of the better-known RQ-4B Global Hawk flown by the US Air Force, and to the casual observer would appear almost identical. An earlier and smaller RQ-4A made the first non-stop flight across the Pacific Ocean from Edwards Air Force base in California to RAAF Edinburgh in April 2001.

The Triton’s main aluminium fuselage is of semi-monocoque construction, while the V-tail, engine nacelle and aft fuselage are made of composite materials. The forward fuselage is strengthened for housing sensors and the radomes are provided with lightning protection, as well as hail and bird-strike resistance.

Although wingspan (39.9 metres); height (4.7 metres) and maximum takeoff weight (14.62 tonnes) are the same as the RQ-4B, the Triton’s wing has been significantly strengthened to enhance performance at lower altitudes in icing, turbulence and bad weather.

The structural changes have reduced the amount of fuel that can be carried although the effect on performance is unclear. Northrop Grumman puts Triton endurance at 24 hours, range at 15,168 km and maximum altitude 56,500ft, while the US Naval Air Systems Command refers to 30 hours, 18,427km, and 60,000ft.

One of five RQ-4s being used as BAMS demonstrators crashed in Maryland just three days before the official unveiling of the first production MQ-4C at Northrop Grumman’s facility at Palmdale, California.

However, the second of what will be three test and development Tritons joined the first-of-type in September 2012 in engine runs, communications and subsystem checks and the platform’s maiden flight is anticipated around February after successfully concluding these and a series of taxiing tests.

After up to nine test flights in the restricted airspace of Edwards Air Force Base, the aircraft will transit to Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland to complete development work and pave the way for a 68-strong USN fleet. IOC is expected in early 2016.

Testing of the Triton’s Multi-Function Active Sensor (MFAS) Radar, specifically designed for maritime surveillance, is also well-advanced aboard a Gulfstream II testbed aircraft. The X-band two-dimensional 360 degree field of regard radar combines electronic scanning and mechanical rotation and can switch between various surveillance methods. These include maritime surface search (MSS) for tracking maritime targets, and an inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) mode for classifying ships.

Image-while-scan capability is used to interleave very short duration ISAR snapshot and high-range resolution functions. Two synthetic aperture (SAR) modes are used for ground searches; spot SAR for images of the ground and stationary targets, and strip SAR for images along a fixed line. Once targets are detected by MFAS, the data is transmitted to ground stations via sitcom or tactical data link in the form of tracks, single frame snap shots or high resolution snapshots while 360 degree coverage is maintained.

To keep costs down, the system utilises components and technology already used in other Northrop Grumman radars equipping the F-22 (APG-77(V)1, F-16 (APG- 80), and Joint Strike Fighter (APG-81).

However, each component has its own development roadmap, and the company says MFAS could easily be adapted from its primary maritime surveillance role to other functions such as communications and electronic warfare.

Triton’s payload also includes an automatic identification system providing a realtime picture of maritime traffic, communications relay equipment and Link 16, together with AN/ZLQ-1 electronic support measures (ESM) to track and detect emitters of interest.

Australian requirements

A number of Australian-specific requirements that formed part of a separately-costed Australian annexe was included in the USN’s BAMS initial requirements development plan.

Several of these flowed from analysis of a trial in 2006 off Australia’s North West Shelf that involved a Predator B UAV configured to Mariner standard, and a “virtual” Global Hawk operated via Northrop Grumman’s Cyber Warfare Integration Network.

Due at least in part to the Australian initiatives, 360 degree radar and electro-optical coverage versus the USN’s original 270 degree specification, sense-and-avoid anti-collision radar, and de-icing systems in the engine nacelle, wing and tail leading edges are now incorporated in the baseline MQ-4C.

However, the Australian-unique requirements for a ground moving target indicator and an airborne moving target indicator to track aircraft and low-flying cruise missiles, have not been included. Steve Enewold, head of Northrop Grumman’s Triton program, believes the two indicators could be fitted if requested by a customer.

“We’d have to see whatever changes to the airplane the systems required but I don’t see those as showstoppers. They’re provisioned but not planned; there’s sufficient power, space and software capacity. “I don’t think it would require more equipment so much as an increased set of mission software and the appropriate testing and certification.”

Enewold told ADM that despite Australia having no formal status in the Triton program, “within the bounds of our technical agreements and licencing we’re giving you everything we can”.

A Defence spokesperson confirmed that Australia was receiving regular updates on progress through an informal relationship with the USN program office. The current level of access was “appropriate”.

Defence had also received briefs from General Atomics and US Customs and Border Protection, which uses modified Predator Bs dubbed Guardians on long-range anti-drug surveillance missions from Cape Canaveral in Florida and Corpus Christi in Texas, the spokesperson added.

In general terms, any order for Triton would take three years from contract signature to aircraft delivery, Enewold said.

“We could accelerate that a little or stretch it out but it’s going to depend on what capabilities are required, then how much training and setup time you want before going IOC. With the USN, we expect to get to operational test in early 2013 and IOC in early 2016.”

Timing

Applying the same six-year period to Australia’s MUAS program suggests contract signature in 2015 could see IOC achieved by 2021, assuming that the benefits of accessing the USN’s operational test and evaluation data would be offset by the learning curve required to introduce the ADF’s first HALE UAV platform.

Triton’s availability requirement at IOC is 80 per cent effective time on station, a figure now being exceeded by the USAF’s Global Hawks. Barring unforeseen problems, this means five of a seven-platform MQ-4C fleet should be available at any one time, with each aircraft able to cover an area of 2.7 million square miles per mission.

Enewold saw no obstacle to an Australian Triton fleet being wholly maintained and supported in-country.

“I don’t see any reason why not. The system is predominantly unclassified; there’s certainly classified bits of it but I don’t see why under licensing agreements you couldn’t support it.”

And growing confidence that procrastination is drawing to a close is reinforced by Northrop Grumman’s confirmation that it is in advanced discussions with several Australian companies which it believes have the potential to develop innovative capabilities to complement the current sensor suite.

Enewold would not be drawn on system costs, but he described the US$93 million quoted in some US media reports for an MQ-4C together with support equipment and a ground station as a reasonable ballpark figure.

This would however account for less than half the minimum acquisition figure of $2 billion anticipated in the DCP, suggesting this total, as with the $6 billion purchase of the RAAF’s 24 Super Hornets, would include not only the platforms but also setup costs, training and logistics support over several years.

Whereas a Global Hawk ground station will control only one aircraft, the MQ-4C equivalent is designed to handle three aircraft simultaneously and will be sited in a building rather than in a transportable trailer.

USN manning will involve an air vehicle operator (who must have a Federal Aviation Administration instrument rating), mission commander and two sensor operators per aircraft “but it really comes down to how you’re going to operate the aircraft and how many orbits you’re going to fly,” Enewold said.

“The human factor means they wouldn’t be staring at television screens for more than eight hours, it would never go past that, so for a 27-hour mission you’d probably need three crews per aircraft.”

Triton features four wing hardpoints for what Enewold describes as future growth, but the policy implications of turning an ISR platform into a potentially-armed intercontinental strike asset mean they are unlikely to be used for weapons in the foreseeable future.

“We share the maritime domain awareness environment with the P-8A,” Enewold commented. “We both have unique capabilities. If you want to look at something and drop a torpedo you use a P-8A. If you want to maintain surveillance on a wide area and assess shipping tracks and behaviour over a long period of time you need a Triton”.