Honeywell Competing to Design Unmanned Military Aircraft
By Andrew Webb
Journal Staff Writer
Honeywell International Inc. will be one of three aerospace companies competing with federal money to build an eye in the sky for future soldiers.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, has awarded $3.99 million to the firm to develop preliminary designs for unmanned aerial vehicles for use by troops in the field.
The aircraft will be designed in Albuquerque, where Honeywell has a facility geared toward what is called network centric warfare— also part of what the military calls Future Combat Systems. Use of unmanned vehicles and satellite communications to remove soldiers from harm's way is central to the concept.
"(Unmanned aerial vehicles) are a huge growth area for the military, not only for the military, but for the department of homeland defense and other agencies," Brad Looney, a system engineer for Honeywell, told the Journal. "We're just beginning to understand how useful these devices can be."
Over the last two years, Honeywell's Albuquerque operation has already developed a tiny, backpack-carried unmanned aerial vehicle for DARPA under a $40 million contract.
The Micro Air Vehicle, or MAV, is a ducted fan design— that is, the engine and propeller reside inside a duct, or tube, that also serves as a flight surface.
Servos control flaps to stabilize and direct the flight.
That project is nearing first flight, which will be performed at the company's outdoor, tethered flight testing facility in Albuquerque.
For this contract, called the Organic Air Vehicle program, the company will design a 112-pound, 30-inch device, powered by a 40-horsepower diesel engine.
The vehicle has to be launched within five minutes, and operate in cluttered airspace.
Cameras, sensors and communications equipment mounted on the unmanned aerial vehicle could relay information back to commanders about dangers ahead facing a convoy or company of troops.
"This has been a strategic growth area for Honeywell," said Organic Air Vehicle program manager Dan Fouts.
He said the firm was evaluating whether it would hire additional personnel for the project.
Two other firms, BAE Systems Aircraft Controls, of Los Angeles, and Auorora Flight Sciences, of Manassas, Va., will also receive funding as part of the $8.7 million competition to design prototype devices.
After six months, the designs will be evaluated by DARPA, at which point one or two of them will be selected to continue development leading tototypes and flight testing.
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