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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2000. Review of ONR's Uninhabited Combat Air Vehicles Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9885.
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Review of ONR's Uninhabited Combat Air Vehicles Program

Committee for the Review of ONR's Uninhabited Combat Air Vehicles Program

Naval Studies Board

Commission on Physical Sciences, Mathematics, and Applications

National Research Council

NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS
Washington, D.C.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2000. Review of ONR's Uninhabited Combat Air Vehicles Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9885.
×

NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.

This work was performed under Department of the Navy Contract N00014-99-C-0307 issued by the Office of Naval Research under contract authority NR 201-124. However, the content does not necessarily reflect the position or the policy of the Department of the Navy or the government, and no official endorsement should be inferred.

The United States Government has at least a royalty-free, nonexclusive, and irrevocable license throughout the world for government purposes to publish, translate, reproduce, deliver, perform, and dispose of all or any of this work, and to authorize others so to do.

International Standard Book Number 0-309-06977-7

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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2000. Review of ONR's Uninhabited Combat Air Vehicles Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9885.
×

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES

National Academy of Sciences

National Academy of Engineering

Institute of Medicine

National Research Council

The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Bruce M. Alberts is president of the National Academy of Sciences.

The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achievements of engineers. Dr. William A. Wulf is president of the National Academy of Engineering.

The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, upon its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Kenneth I. Shine is president of the Institute of Medicine.

The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy's purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Bruce M. Alberts and Dr. William A. Wulf are chairman and vice chairman, respectively, of the National Research Council.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2000. Review of ONR's Uninhabited Combat Air Vehicles Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9885.
×

COMMITTEE FOR THE REVIEW OF ONR'S UNINHABITED COMBAT AIR VEHICLES PROGRAM

FRANK A. HORRIGAN,

Bedford, Massachusetts,

Chair

PHILIP S. ANSELMO,

Northrop Grumman Corporation

WILLARD R. BOLTON,

Sandia National Laboratories

THOMAS J. CASSIDY, JR.,

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc.

ROBERT W. DAY,

Raytheon Systems Company

ALAN H. EPSTEIN,

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

ROGER E. FISHER,

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

RAY “M” FRANKLIN,

Port Angeles, Washington

NORMAN D. GEDDES,

Applied Systems Intelligence, Inc.

ROBERT H. GORMLEY,

The Oceanus Company

HARRY W. JENKINS,

ITT Industries

JAMES D. LANG,

La Jolla, California

JOSEPH B. REAGAN,

Saratoga, California

JOHN P. RETELLE, JR.,

Logicon Advanced Technology

HOWARD E. SHROBE,

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

JOHN F. WALTER,

Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University

Staff

CHARLES F. DRAPER, Study Director

SIDNEY G. REED, Consultant

JAMES G. WILSON, Consultant

Navy/Marine Corps Liaison Representative

ALLEN MOSHFEGH,

Office of Naval Research

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2000. Review of ONR's Uninhabited Combat Air Vehicles Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9885.
×

NAVAL STUDIES BOARD

VINCENT VITTO,

Charles S. Draper Laboratory, Inc.,

Chair

JOSEPH B. REAGAN,

Saratoga, California,

Vice Chair

DAVID R. HEEBNER,

McLean, Virginia,

Past Chair

ALBERT J. BACIOCCO, JR.,

The Baciocco Group, Inc.

ARTHUR B. BAGGEROER,

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

ALAN BERMAN,

Applied Research Laboratory, Pennsylvania State University

NORMAN E. BETAQUE,

Logistics Management Institute

JAMES P. BROOKS,

Litton/Ingalls Shipbuilding, Inc.

NORVAL L. BROOME,

Mitre Corporation

JOHN D. CHRISTIE,

Logistics Management Institute

RUTH A. DAVID,

Analytic Services, Inc.

PAUL K. DAVIS,

RAND and the RAND Graduate School of Policy Studies

SEYMOUR J. DEITCHMAN,

Chevy Chase, Maryland,

Special Advisor

DANIEL E. HASTINGS,

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

FRANK A. HORRIGAN,

Bedford, Massachusetts

RICHARD J. IVANETICH,

Institute for Defense Analyses

MIRIAM E. JOHN,

Sandia National Laboratories

ANNETTE J. KRYGIEL,

Great Falls, Virginia

ROBERT B. OAKLEY,

National Defense University

HARRISON SHULL,

Monterey, California

JAMES M. SINNETT,

The Boeing Company

WILLIAM D. SMITH,

Fayetteville, Pennsylvania

PAUL K. VAN RIPER,

Williamsburg, Virginia

VERENA S. VOMASTIC,

The Aerospace Corporation

BRUCE WALD,

Center for Naval Analyses

MITZI M. WERTHEIM,

Center for Naval Analyses

Navy Liaison Representatives

RADM RAYMOND C. SMITH,

USN, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, N81

RADM PAUL G. GAFFNEY II,

USN, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, N91

Marine Corps Liaison Representative

LTGEN JOHN E. RHODES, USMC, Commanding General,

Marine Corps Combat Development Command

RONALD D. TAYLOR, Director

CHARLES F. DRAPER, Senior Program Officer

MARY G. GORDON, Information Officer

SUSAN G. CAMPBELL, Administrative Assistant

JAMES E. MACIEJEWSKI, Senior Project Assistant

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2000. Review of ONR's Uninhabited Combat Air Vehicles Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9885.
×

COMMISSION ON PHYSICAL SCIENCES, MATHEMATICS, AND APPLICATIONS

PETER M. BANKS,

Veridian ERIM International, Inc.,

Co-chair

W. CARL LINEBERGER,

University of Colorado,

Co-chair

WILLIAM F. BALLHAUS, JR.,

Lockheed Martin Corporation

SHIRLEY CHIANG,

University of California at Davis

MARSHALL H. COHEN,

California Institute of Technology

RONALD G. DOUGLAS,

Texas A&M University

SAMUEL H. FULLER,

Analog Devices, Inc.

JERRY P. GOLLUB,

Haverford College

MICHAEL F. GOODCHILD,

University of California at Santa Barbara

MARTHA P. HAYNES,

Cornell University

WESLEY T. HUNTRESS, JR.,

Carnegie Institution

CAROL M. JANTZEN,

Westinghouse Savannah River Company

PAUL G. KAMINSKI,

Technovation, Inc.

KENNETH H. KELLER,

University of Minnesota

JOHN R. KREICK,

Sanders, a Lockheed Martin Company(retired)

MARSHA I. LESTER,

University of Pennsylvania

DUSA M. McDUFF,

State University of New York at Stony Brook

JANET L. NORWOOD, Former Commissioner,

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

M. ELISABETH PATÉ-CORNELL,

Stanford University

NICHOLAS P. SAMIOS,

Brookhaven National Laboratory

ROBERT J. SPINRAD,

Xerox PARC (retired)

MYRON F. UMAN, Acting Executive Director

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2000. Review of ONR's Uninhabited Combat Air Vehicles Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9885.
×

Preface

Joint Vision 20101 addresses the need for achieving military dominance through the application of new operational concepts. For the Department of the Navy, future operational concepts will hinge on a continuance of forward yet unobtrusive presence and the capability to influence events ashore as required. This capability will be enabled by the development and insertion into the forces of new technologies for providing command, control, and surveillance; battlespace dominance; power projection; and force sustainment. For example, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have recently proven to be valuable operational platforms for providing tactical intelligence by surveillance of the battlefield. To support naval force objectives, the Office of Naval Research (ONR) has established a research program within the Strike Technology Division (Code 351) of the Naval Expeditionary Warfare Science and Technology Department aimed at expanding the operational capabilities of UAVs to include not only surveillance and reconnaissance, but strike and logistics missions as well. This new class of autonomous vehicles, known as uninhabited combat air vehicles (UCAVs), is foreseen as being intelligent, recoverable, and highly maneuverable in support of future naval operations.

Although UCAVs are not seen as a replacement for manned aircraft, the technical vision for UCAVs suggests they could take advantage of emerging technologies in order to provide weaponry and logistics support at a fraction of the cost of current manned systems. Specifically, these emerging capabilities could include (1) autonomous multi-UCAVs and multisensors, as well as cooperative target cueing and automatic target recognition; (2) sea-based multimission vertical takeoff and landing/vertical short takeoff and landing concepts with a real-time, full-scale simulation environment; (3) secure communications and architecture for autonomous intelligent UCAVs; and (4) real-time autonomous mission planning, path planning, contingency planning, and situational awareness for networked UCAVs.

At the request of the Office of Naval Research, the National Research Council established a committee, under the auspices of the Naval Studies Board, to assess the science and technology issues relating to the ONR program for UCAVs (see Appendix A for short biographies of committee members). Specifically, the review was to evaluate ONR's UCAV technology activities, including its vision documents and its science and technology roadmap (in areas of vehicle dynamics, communications, sensors, and autonomous agents) against criteria that would be selected by the committee, such as the relevance for meeting future naval priorities, the cost and time

1  

Shalikashvili, GEN John M., USA. 1997. Joint Vision 2010. Joint Chiefs of Staff, The Pentagon, Washington, D.C.

Page viii Cite
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2000. Review of ONR's Uninhabited Combat Air Vehicles Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9885.
×

scale for its utilization, duplication of effort, and scientific and technical quality. Although the ONR program includes both basic (6.1) and applied (6.2) research efforts relating to UCAVs, the committee was asked to assess those activities under the 6.2 budget category (Appendix B gives the full terms of reference). A previous NRC committee reviewed the basic research activities.2

In preparing its report, the Committee for the Review of ONR's Uninhabited Combat Air Vehicles Program met twice. The first meeting was held December 13-15, 1999, in Irvine, California; it was devoted mainly to briefings by the study sponsor (and the corresponding principal investigators) on the applied research (6.2) activities—including goals, vision, technical roadmaps, and other plans—of the ONR UCAV program. Additionally, representatives from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency/U.S. Air Force UCAV program and the Program Executive Office for Cruise Missiles and UAVs (PEO (CU)) briefed the committee on other UAV/ UCAV efforts. The committee's second meeting, held January 18-19, 2000, in Washington, D.C., was spent preparing an initial draft report. Additionally, representatives from the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations (OPNAV), and the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) briefed the committee on related Department of Defense and Department of the Navy UAV/UCAV efforts; the committee believes that these briefings were necessary in order to establish the review criteria (i.e., the relevance for meeting future naval priorities, cost and time scale for utilization, duplication of effort, and scientific and technical quality) for assessing the science and technology issues related to the ONR 351 UCAV program.

The resulting report represents the committee's consensus view on the issues posed in the charge.

2  

Naval Studies Board, National Research Council. 1999. 1999 Assessment of the Office of Naval Research's Air and Surface Weapons Technology Program. National Academy Press, Washington, D.C.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2000. Review of ONR's Uninhabited Combat Air Vehicles Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9885.
×

Acknowledgment of Reviewers

This report has been reviewed by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by the National Research Council's (NRC's) Report Review Committee. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the authors and the NRC in making the published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The contents of the review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process. The committee wishes to thank the following individuals for their participation in the review of this report:

John M. Borky, Tamarac Technologies, Inc.,

Eugene E. Covert, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (emeritus),

John N. Entzminger, Entzminger Associates,

Edward A. Feigenbaum, Stanford University,

Ivan A. Getting, The Aerospace Corporation (retired),

VADM Richard H. Truly, USN (retired), National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and

Peter R. Worch, Science Applications International Corporation (retired).

Although the individuals listed above provided many constructive comments and suggestions, responsibility for the final content of this report rests solely with the authoring committee and the NRC.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2000. Review of ONR's Uninhabited Combat Air Vehicles Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9885.
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Joint Vision 20101 addresses the need for achieving military dominance through the application of new operational concepts. For the Department of the Navy, future operational concepts will hinge on a continuance of forward yet unobtrusive presence and the capability to influence events ashore as required. This capability will be enabled by the development and insertion into the forces of new technologies for providing command, control, and surveillance; battlespace dominance; power projection; and force sustainment. For example, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have recently proven to be valuable operational platforms for providing tactical intelligence by surveillance of the battlefield. To support naval force objectives, the Office of Naval Research (ONR) has established a research program within the Strike Technology Division (Code 351) of the Naval Expeditionary Warfare Science and Technology Department aimed at expanding the operational capabilities of UAVs to include not only surveillance and reconnaissance, but strike and logistics missions as well. This new class of autonomous vehicles, known as uninhabited combat air vehicles (UCAVs), is foreseen as being intelligent, recoverable, and highly maneuverable in support of future naval operations.

Review of ONR'S Uninhabited Combat Air Vehicles Program evaluates ONR's UCAV technology activities, including its vision documents and its science and technology roadmap (in areas of vehicle dynamics, communications, sensors, and autonomous agents) against criteria that would be selected by the committee, such as the relevance for meeting future naval priorities, the cost and time scale for its utilization, duplication of effort, and scientific and technical quality.

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