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2018-06-03

Predator B: The Multi-Role Single Solution for ISR

The Certifiable Predator B (CPB) class of Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) has been optimised for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) through the development of two variants SeaGuardian and SkyGuardian, to support a variety of homeland security and other non-military roles.

The General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) Predator B is closely associated with military missions, but its air vehicle performance and sensor-carrying capabilities make the airframe a natural choice for a wide spectrum of non-military uses.

GA-ASI has developed the unarmed SeaGuardian RPAS for non-kinetic roles to advance its capabilities through recent developments in sensor, communications, airspace integration and flight control technology. The SkyGuardian can be fitted with a maritime radar when needed to become a SeaGuardian.

Both RPAS models utilise the same airframe as Certifiable Predator B, including the long-span wings for increased range/endurance and airworthiness flight/mission system improvements. They typically carry the same communications systems and sensors, with SeaGuardian including a long range multimode 360° maritime radar (such as the Raytheon SeaVue) mounted beneath the fuselage and providing a highly detailed real-time operational picture for domain awareness.

The new SeaGuardian will carry the Lynx Multi-Mode Radar, optimised for similar over land Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance requirements, including border protection, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, anti-trafficking, search-and-rescue, mapping, fishery patrols and pollution monitoring. Predator B models have been used extensively in non-military roles by NASA and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), thanks to littoral surveillance capability with an Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar (ISAR) mode and multi-contact detection, cueing and tracking.

Multi-Role legacy

NASA has used a Predator B-designated ‘Ikhana’ on numerous scientific research programmes – a Native American Choctaw word meaning ‘intelligent, conscious or aware’ and indicative of the aircraft’s research goals. The Predator B’s integration of a wide range of sensors allows it to operate as a platform for numerous scientific experiments at much lower cost than with manned aircraft.

Moreover, the U.S. CBP Office operates a mixed fleet of Predator Bs and earlier variants of Guardians against a range of illegal cross-border activities, including the smuggling of people and narcotics. CBP Guardians perform a similar task along the coast, employing their multi-role maritime radar to detect and track surface activity.

Eye-in-the-sky persistence

Both NASA and CBP Guardian Operations have highlighted the value of RPAS in providing a persistent oversight capability before, during and after natural disasters to inform emergency response commanders of where assets should be deployed for maximum effect. The data can also be used at local level by individual response teams to assist operations and enhance their own safety.

A Guardian RPAS with high-definition sensors and wide-reaching communications capabilities can significantly enhance the ability of responding agencies to handle containment and relief activities. Described as an “aerial pick-up truck”, Guardian can be a powerful asset to protect infrastructure and livelihoods, ultimately saving lives.

Its ability to carry large payloads makes the Guardian RPAS suitable for many other applications in both government and commercial sectors, offering significant savings in comparison to manned platforms. The aircraft provides unmatched persistence, versatility and cost-effectiveness across a broad spectrum of requirements.

Mobile communications umbrella

Certifiable Predator B RPAS can also provide a communications relay to first responders where mobile phone and radio towers have been rendered inoperative, so enabling communications between otherwise dissimilar radio systems. The “mobile tower” in the sky thus helps the most vulnerable to reach out quickly for help in emergencies, closing the time needed for find and assist.

Imaging and radar mapping enables the RPAS to compile detailed data of a vulnerable area prior to an impending disaster. Flying similar profiles afterwards and using change-detection software enables crew to identify areas of major damage rapidly or where further damage is likely to occur.

SkyGUARDIAN ISR endurance

With its long endurance, SkyGuardian provides persistent Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance (ISR) at a significantly lower cost than manned aircraft where endurance is typically limited by the onboard crew. The RPAS can use its endurance to reach areas far from base at a fraction of the cost of dispatching a manned aircraft.

SkyGuardian can carry a wide variety of sensor payloads providing highly detailed intelligence from a significant standoff range. Other advanced technologies, such as change detection, allow the exploitation of raw data to meet a variety of military requirements, particularly applicable to the changing nature of the battlefield.

Through its ability to carry a large weapon load and advanced automated control systems, SkyGuardian can launch attacks against detected threats, greatly reducing the kill-chain between detection and an armed response. It can prosecute a mission over a lengthy period without needing to return to base for refuelling or crew changes.

SkyGuardian was designed for focused military use in operational theatres, leveraging the Predator family legacy of 4,000,000 flight hours, with 90 per cent of these flown in combat by the U.S. Air Force, France, Italy, and the United Kingdom. The aircraft is now making further evolution into other missions, requiring the ability to operate outside of military-controlled airspace for training purposes or otherwise.

Certification and modifications

Much of SkyGuardian’s design is driven by airworthiness regulations where each aircraft part comes with the ‘paper-trail’ necessary to trace its provenance and manufacturing processes. All elements, including the Honeywell TPE331 engine and the McCauley four-bladed propeller, require airworthiness certification in the SkyGuardian installation.

Compared with the ‘legacy’ aircraft, SkyGuardian uses approved airworthiness materials conforming to those employed in airliner construction. Overall maintainability has thus been improved, while airframe design life has been extended from 20,000 to 40,000 flight hours.

The SkyGuardian’s enhanced safety features include better protection against lightning strikes and improved anti-icing system. Hardened external radomes increase resistance to bird strikes while containing improved thermal management and fire-zones internally, including stainless steel walls.

One significant system change is the partition between mission and flight applications enabling isolation of flight technologies from payload systems. This change enables a roll-on, roll-off like capability for emerging sensor systems, otherwise impossible with an integrated flight and mission application.

A ‘black box’ flight data recorder is included and SkyGuardian has an Automatic Take-Off and Landing system, with the option of a back-up conventional manual flight system required by some customers. The GA-ASI Advanced Cockpit GCS has also been modified to meet approval requirements, with some hardware changes required for flight-critical functions comparable to the technology of modern business aircraft.

Innovative performance enhancements

In developing SkyGuardian, GA-ASI has also improved the performance and capabilities of the baseline air vehicle. Longer span wings fitted with winglets allow almost 1360 kg (3,000 lb) of additional fuel to be carried internally and in an ISR unarmed configuration, endurance rises from 27 to more than 40 hours to produce an increase enabling the use of the aircraft in a greater number of roles, operating in difficult-to-reach regions.

It should be emphasised that the new wings have extra hard points, raising the total number of external stores/payload-carrying stations to nine (four under each wing and one under the centreline). Meanwhile, the SkyGuardian has a slightly lengthened fuselage to create space for the installation of the DRR.

SkyGuardian is fitted with Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) and Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) II as standard. Nonetheless, the DRR is catered for as an option to provide a detect-and-avoid capability in a non-cooperative environment, so offering unmatched persistence, versatility and cost-effectiveness across a broad spectrum of military requirements.

Reference Text/Photo:

www.ga-asi.com

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