Combat aircraft

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94 February 2018 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net

DISPATCHES FROM THE FRONT LINE

OF AEROSPACE TECHNOLOGY

BY DAVID AXE

reconnaissance mission alongside a Bombardier

test aircraft acting as a surrogate EA-18G.

‘We did a demonstration where these [the

Dash X]  ew forward, looked for an unlocated

[radio-frequency] object’, Thompson said. ‘They

went out and they found that vehicle. They

listened for the whispering and they pulled it

back to this test airframe and they were able to

detect, identify and geolocate.’

Dash Xs could help Growlers to stay

beyond the range of enemy surface-to-air

missiles (SAMs) during dangerous air defense

suppression missions. The US Navy is reportedly

considering adding the drone to its 138 EA-18Gs

as part of the Block II upgrade program.

The Dash X is just the latest initiative aiming to

combine manned warplanes and small drones.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

(DARPA) has begun work on a small drone that

doubles as a weapons pylon in order to extend

the range of air-to-air munitions. A  ghter

launches the Flying Missile Rail drone, which

travels a certain distance before  ring its missiles.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon’s secretive Strategic

Capabilities O ce has been testing soda can-

size Perdix drones that launch from a  ghter’s

cha and  are dispensers before forming highly

autonomous swarms for reconnaissance missions.

None of the  ghter-drone pairings is

operational yet. All face funding, testing and

conceptual challenges. But Dash X stands a

good chance of eventually making its way into

the  eet, Thompson said. Northrop Grumman’s

collaboration with the US Navy gives the drone

the ‘highest probability of  elding’.

US NAVY

GROWLER

COULD

BECOME

A ‘DRONE

MOTHERSHIP’

N

ORTHROP GRUMMAN IS trying to

convince the US Navy to transform

the branch’s EA-18G Growler

electronic attack aircraft into

motherships for small, slow- ying

unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that

could extend the distance at which Growler crews

can pinpoint enemy radars.

The 12ft (3.6m)-long Dash X drone  ts inside

the military’s tactical munition dispenser (TMD).

Deployed mid- ight and extending pop-out

wings, the Dash X  ies under its own power at a

top speed of just 70mph (113km/h). The drone

carries an array of sensors and datalinks.

The UAV’s slow speed is actually an advantage,

John Thompson, a Northrop Grumman

campaign director, told reporters in early

December. ‘It is actually survivable because it

is absolutely so slow and so small. When you

think about how military systems are designed,

they’re designed to shoot down tactical jets and

you actually build into radars gates that take

away things such as birds’, Thompson said.

Northrop, the navy, the O ce of Naval

Research, the O ce of the Secretary of Defense,

North Carolina State University and the University

of South Carolina are all collaborating on the

Dash-X e ort. They built two airframes for testing

and, in October, sent the drones on a mock

This image: The US Navy is

taking steps to maximize the

effectiveness of its

EA-18G Growlers.

Jamie Hunter

Below: The Northrop

Grumman/VX Aerospace

Dash X unmanned aerial

vehicle inside its canister.

Northrop Grumman

Dash Xs could

help Growlers to

stay beyond the range

of enemy surface-to-air

missiles during dangerous

air defense suppression

missions

94 Cutting Edge C.indd 94 14/12/2017 11:15