Northrop-Grumman Hunter II Features Heavy Fuel Engine As Part Of Baseline Design

Northrop Grumman has started ground and flight demonstrations of the new Hunter II medium altitude endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) it has proposed as the US Army's next generation UAV system.

The flights are being conducted at Libby Army Air Field here as part of a six-week-long flight demonstration between two competing air-vehicle designs selected for the Phase I System Concept Demonstration (SCD) phase of the Army's Extended Range/Multi-Purpose UAV program.  The SCD program is designed to demonstrate the maturity of the proposed UAV designs.

"Northrop Grumman's Hunter II air vehicle will be 100 percent compliant with the ER/MP program's threshold requirements, and will demonstrate a heavy fuel engine configuration in advance of the Army's requirements," said Bill McCall, Northrop Grumman's ER/MP program director.  "Our new Hunter II UAV system is designed to be operated and maintained easily by enlisted soldiers and non-commissioned officers, who already are familiar with the Hunter UAV.  Its new avionics and communications capabilities will also provide Army land commanders with the situational awareness they need to 'see and exploit' the land battlefield in a timely manner."

 Northrop Grumman's SCD activities include a variety of ground and test flights to evaluate the Hunter II demonstrator air vehicle's flight characteristics including speed, endurance, range and altitude. For the test program, the company is using three Hunter II demonstrator air vehicles, one of which is configured with a heavy fuel engine.

 The SCD competition is expected to culminate in a Phase II system development and demonstration contract awarded to a single contractor in the second quarter of 2005.

 Hunter II is a twin-boom, autonomous UAV that builds on the legacy of the battle-proven family of Hunter UAVs.  It features a sensor suite that includes electro-optical/infrared and synthetic aperture radar systems; software architecture that can easily accommodate new payloads and data-handling requirements; state-of-the-art avionics; a weapons capability and a communications subsystem that allows it to share data seamlessly with current battlefield networks; and a fully automatic take-off and landing system.

FMI: www.northgrum.com