Navy to Issue Four UCLASS Contracts

摘要

The US Navy has confirmed its intention to issue fixed-price Preliminary Design Review (PDR) contracts to four companies as part of its Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) programme. The contracts, due to be issued in the summer, are expected to be awarded to Northrop Grumman, General Atomics, Lockheed Martin and Boeing. Each of these companies had already received a UCLASS study contract in June 2011 (see Navy Selects UCLASS Contractors, September 2011, p23). The latter two have UCLASS design concepts; General Atomics is flying the Avenger, a jet-powered version of the Predator family, while Northrop Grumman is prime contractor for the X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstrator (UCAS-D). The X-47B is due to demonstrate carrier operations from an aircraft carrier later this year.