UK MoD Calls For New Laser Equipped Stealth UAV

In February, Great Britain’s Ministry of Defense (MOD) unveiled its plans for modernizing its military. Similar to the US Military’s Future Combat System program, the new technology plan, to examine a “more cost-effective means of achieving the effects currently provided by manned aircraft and cruise missiles by using new concepts in [UAVs and] unmanned combat air vehicles,” involves bringing a new generation of unmanned vehicles, advanced sensors and energy weapons to the battlefield.

As part of the new modernization program, the MoD has opened bidding for the chance to develop its centerpiece project – the Novel Air Concept an, an unmanned aerial vehicle with the ability to hover in urban canyons, as well as Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOL).

The Mod’s program calls for:

A reusable uninhabited air system with a radius of action of 1000km and able to survive defended air space. Capable of being launched and recovered from land, sea and air with the emphasis on ship based operations. The vehicle is to be able to operate within the urban canyons inherent in the major city landscape.

In addition, the MOD wants a flying prototype ready for testing by 2012, with an operational model ready by 2015.

Many of the project details remain classified, but UK Defense companies BAE Systems, MBDA, and Cranfield Aerospace have already submitted proposals.

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