Integration, integration, integration. The message has long been important for any military aerospace platform, but now it is insistent as the significance of UAVs, and particularly UCAVs (unmanned combat aerial vehicles), burgeons and ever more emphasis is placed on enhanced capability, flexibility, affordability, rapid response, reliability, and platform packaging. "There are many areas where innovation can deliver increased capability—and one example is power systems," said Ric Parker, Director of Research and Technology (R&T) at Rolls-Royce. "Propulsion has been identified as one of seven science and technology priorities in the UK's Defense Technology Strategy where resilience to threat or loss of advantage are at stake." As future platforms become more integrated, the power system will be a critical enabler, said Parker. "The IPS [integrated power system] is a system that manages the complete provision of power and propulsion in a fully integrated manner."
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