By Chris Thatcher | March 29, 2017 Estimated reading time 4 minutes, 25 seconds.
The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) is asking the defence and aerospace industry for help defining the requirements and procurement plan for an intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance (ISTAR) unmanned aerial system (UAS) to operate from its Halifax-class frigates.
At an industry day on March 23, officials from the navy and departments of Public Services and Procurement (PSPC) and Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED) laid out the broad strokes of an unmanned capability to conduct a range of “dull, dirty and dangerous” missions in a multi-threat environment and requested industry assistance to build the business case.
“The inherent operational advantage of employing the UAS will be its suitability to stand off at some distance if required and perform tasks within hostile environments,” the RCN stated in a request for information (RFI) to industry in February. “The primary employment for the UAS will be to conduct both maritime and joint ISTAR missions…[T]he UAS will enhance the Halifax-class frigate’s ability to conduct sustained, extended, concealed over-the-horizon surveillance, targeting, and intelligence gathering operations required to locate, identify and interdict contacts of interest or similar effects in support of forces in open ocean or the littorals.”
Government officials are now seeking industry feedback on initial cost estimates and possible cost drivers, potential risks that might be difficult to mitigate, and help with refining requirements.
The RCN trialed a small fixed-wing unmanned aircraft on deployed frigates between 2012 and 2014, capitalizing on a contract between the Canadian Army and Insitu, a subsidiary of Boeing, to operate a ScanEagle with embarked army pilots and civilian contractors.
While launch and recovery presented some unique challenges on a warship where deck space is at a premium, the expanded situational awareness and ISR capability quickly became an invaluable asset to commanding officers.
The RCN now wants a dedicated and proven maritime platform with a universal control station, data links and launch and recovery system that is “part of the ship’s fitted equipment” and interoperable with its operating procedures and onboard systems, Commander Simon Nadeau, naval requirements section head for C4ISR and maritime domain awareness, explained in an interview in 2016.
One objective is extending the ship’s current beyond-visual-line-of-sight sensor range beyond 50 nautical miles. The exact composition of sensors would be mission-dependent, but the navy is requesting a core payload of an electro-optical/infrared camera, maritime radar, automatic identification system, and identification friend or foe (IFF) transponder.
The UAS could also act as a communications relay, with resilience to GPS jamming, and provide laser targeting, electronic warfare, and signals intelligence gathering capabilities.
A maritime helicopter on a six-month deployment typically flies around 500 hours, operating on a 12-hour deck cycle. The UAS is ideally expected to fly closer to 1,000 hours over the same period, flying “up to 12 hours every other day (or iterations thereof),” the navy stated, for a more persistent ISTAR capability. At minimum, it must have six hours of endurance.
Because deck space is limited for both operations and storage, the RCN would like a UAS solution that does not “require any launch and recovery apparatus,” and has indicated a preference for “a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) or rotary-wing capability.”
The ISTAR UAS project, valued at between $100 million and $250 million, is part of a larger and well-developed RCN plan to acquire a full suite of maritime unmanned systems (MUxS), including surface and subsurface drones, able to interoperate with the rest of the Canadian Armed Forces, other government departments and allies, and integrate with both current and future surface and subsurface fleets.
The UAS project, which would include aircraft, sensors, ground control stations, data links, training, and support, has been in “options analysis” since January 2016 and the government would like to have a contract signed by late 2020. While outright purchase is likely the preferred option, officials at the industry day indicated all options remain on the table, including leasing the equipment and support services. The deadline for feedback to the RFI is April 18, 2017, and a draft request for proposals is expected by August 2019.
