Lockheed Martin has been selected as a prime contractor by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and U.S. Army for the Unmanned Combat Armed Rotorcraft (UCAR) program. The award, worth approximately $3 million, covers an initial 12-month concept development study, and represents a key Lockheed Martin effort for DARPA's unmanned air vehicle (UAV) initiatives.

The goal of the joint DARPA/Army UCAR study is to demonstrate the technical feasibility, military utility and operational value for a UCAR system to perform armed reconnaissance and attack missions effectively and affordably within the emerging Army Objective Force system-of-systems architecture. During this concept development phase, the Lockheed Martin-led team will conduct mission effectiveness and affordability trade-offs to develop and optimize an objective system design.

"We understand the vision and expectations for an affordable UCAR system that operates without a dedicated mission control station," said Steve Ramsey, vice president of Aerospace Systems for Lockheed Martin Systems Integration - Owego, "We're extremely pleased to have been selected for this important program."

The Lockheed Martin team includes Bell Helicopter Textron Inc., Fort Worth, TX; Charles Stark Draper Laboratories, Cambridge, MA; and Whitney, Bradley and Brown Inc., Vienna, VA. Lockheed Martin business units involved in the UCAR program include Systems Integration - Owego in New York; Missiles and Fire Control, Orlando, FL; Advanced Technology Laboratories, Camden, NJ; and the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company, Palmdale, CA.

The Lockheed Martin-led UCAR team brings to the project advanced vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) capabilities as well as leading-edge systems in command and control, autonomous operations, sensors, weapons, targeting and survivability technologies.

"A superior system-of-systems approach that leverages state-of-the-art autonomous operations technologies -- which is what our collaboration team offers -- is essential to the UCAR program's success," Ramsey said. "Lockheed Martin and its teammates understand the importance of UCAR to U.S. Army aviation, and we are dedicated to helping our customer meet its goals with this key UAV effort."

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SOURCE: Lockheed Martin