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Unmanned combat helicopters planned

Brian Walters

Raytheon (A02/U02) has teamed with Sikorsky to develop an unmanned combat armed rotorcraft (UCAR) concept for the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency under a recently awarded study contract. This calls for the development of a conceptual design, the substantiation of its effectiveness and cost projections, while 'drawing a roadmap' for the UCAR programme.

Raytheon will provide advanced sensors, advanced weapon development, UAV command and control, and C4ISR integration derived from experience on the Global Hawk and Predator unmanned aerial
vehicles, as well as the Army Airborne Command and Control System (A2C2S). Sikorsky has previously worked in the field of autonomous unmanned rotorcraft, having developed the Cypher UAV. The company aims to provide a low-observable combat rotorcraft drawing on design and integration experience with the RAH-66 Comanche reconnaissance/attack helicopter developed with Boeing.

The Raytheon/Sikorsky team is one of four selected to participate in the first phase of the UCAR programme; the others comprise Boeing, Lockheed Martin/Bell and Northrop Grumman. On completion of this phase, up to two contenders will be selected for phase two, leading to the final phase, in which one design will be built to begin flight trials in 2005.

The UCAR is required to perform armed reconnaissance and attack missions autonomously, although it will also be controlled from manned platforms such as the RAH-66 and UH-60. It is envisaged that the winning design will enter service with the USAF in 2010 and with both the US Army and US Navy about five years later.



Anyone have comments on this article? If most of the gameplay will be between 2010 and 2030 should we invent a few UCAR units to offer in the game or assume they won't be available till later?

I say include them.The more different types of units the more fun.

Good ole Club Ray, they always seem to have their fingers in a little bit of everything.

Wasnt topic related to this posted some place? Any how yes! include them!

However once you go with including unmanned helicopters we might as well begin adding the rest of the unmanned things (Predator, some unmanned vehicles and ships etc.)

UAVs where always going to be included, they exist now. The question is what can we "invent" without moving into extreme science fiction (we refuse to have a clone army conquer Europe)

Hey- heres a question on tech. During peacetime obviously tech is developed but at a slower rate vs wartime

In wartime will people get bonuses in tech research like faster research?(Obviousyl some penalties for war will occur to but im guessing those are already there.)

I mean WWII look at all the Germans accomplished. Bad guys maybe but brilliant weapons they came up with- wayyy ahead of the rest.

But the Germans didn't have better equipment just because they were at war. They also had to cut other programs to fund weapons development. When you're at war, you have to spend more money on defense. That money has to come from somewhere, either other programs (welfare, health, education, transportation, etc.) or deficit spending (spending tax money you think you'll have in the future).

Hell> Thats more or less what I meant I didn't give specifics but I mean in wartime tech levels should automatically be researched faster one would think etc.

Well, if that is how you think, I have no doubt this is how you will run your country. The question of how much happenings in your region will shift focus without your intervention is being looked at very closely. I would expect that, during wartime, you would either raise your taxes, cut social programs and invest in research manually or us the automated systems to be sure that your research is well funded. There are some details here I cannot fully get into yet.

Hmmm, I'm the odd man out here it seems.
In the old days Vietnam period back I'd agree.
But now,I think the system has reversed itself bigtime.
I believe that weapon/system tech is developed faster during peacetime than in war now.
The main reason I think this is the case now is that the Defense Industry is a major part of the ecomony now.It is constantly looking at new tech from other industries and developing new tech of its own to make that all important extra $100 billion profit this year.
In the past this kind of rush to develope only occurred when their was a distinct need(IE in times of war).But now its just another way to make people rich,and seems to be in near-full swing all the time.Add to this that the industry itself now has more competition (both in its own country and in the world).
The defense industry seems to me to be an industry that has fully embraced capitilism.
With each new advance they can sell equaling more profit for them.

Actually, you have hit on one of the elements I'm most pleased with in SR2010; the production model. You are correct that defense industries are big money. I have noticed in my research that countries invest large amounts of money simply on "what if" scenarios. How we keep it seperate is that military units cost both money and "military goods" to build. So, while research may be changing, it is possible to be mass producing military goods for sale to the open market to increase profit and improve the regions GDP/c.

I think what Empier was suggesting is that during peace time, a player will build lots of a medium strength unit that it knows it can move on the open market but during war time will shift some of that money to research to build better units for home. With the right balance in the game, you can sell your enemy M60 tanks to fully fund your research in M1A2 Abrams that you'll crush him with.