SnowGoose UAV flies with Rockwell Collins controls

07:44 GMT, June 17, 2009 PARIS | Mist Mobility Integrated Systems Technology (MMIST) has selected Rockwell Collins to provide its Athena 411 flight control and navigation system for the CQ-10A SnowGoose Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). Flight tests are planned for late summer. The SnowGoose cargo UAV is a multipurpose aerial platform that autonomously delivers up to 575 pounds of cargo to up to six individual locations, including medical aid, food and water. The UAV can be ground-launched from a truck or trailer, or air-launched directly from a C-130 or C-17 aircraft. "Our unique control design methodology leverages control laws for handling flight anomalies and achieves the highest possible performance without compromising vehicle safety," said Ron Hornish, vice president and general manager of Precision Strike Solutions for Rockwell Collins. "With the proven technology of our Athena 411 flight control system, we can eliminate uncertainties, reduce time to market and lower the overall program life cycle cost." The Rockwell Collins Athena 411 will play an important role in the SnowGoose upgrade program. "The Athena 411 meets requirements for MMIST's SnowGoose upgrade program, which involves replacing the parachute 'wing' with an auto gyro rotor head and rear stabilizing system and replacing the Airborne Guidance Unit with an improved flight control system," explained David Vos, senior director of Control Technologies for Rockwell Collins. Developed for both unmanned aerial systems and military applications, the Rockwell Collins Athena 411 is a highly reliable, strap-down system that provides attitude and heading measurements with accuracy that is superior to traditional inertial navigation systems. The system integrates solid-state gyros and accelerometers, magnetometer, GPS receiver and air data sensors into a single small unit. MMIST is a full solution provider of Precision Aerial Delivery products and services including the Sherpatm family of GPS guided parafoils, the CQ-10A SnowGoosetm cargo unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) along with mission planning tools, services and support equipment. MMIST enables cargo to be delivered even when ground based infrastructure such as roads or runways do not exist, or when ground based infrastructure has become ineffective due to poor weather, climate change, or lack of security. ---- More Paris Air Show news: http://www.defpro.com/confairs/profile/paris_air_show_2009/pressroom/

Paris Air Show 2009

Company or Organisation Portrait: Rockwell Collins (NYSE: COL) is a pioneer in the development and deployment of innovative communication and aviation electronics solutions for both commercial and government applications. Our expertise in flight deck avionics, cabin electronics, mission communications, information management and simulation and training is delivered by nearly 20,000 employees, and a global service and support network that crosses 27 countries.

Company or Organisation Contact: Pam Tvrdy 319.431.0951 (mobile) pjtvrdy@rockwellcollins.com Maureen Stevens 540.878.2251 703.517.6926 (cell) mpsteven@rockwellcollins.com

Surveillance Relies on Unmanned Flying Vehicles

Flight, payload technologies in pilotless MAVs drive their capabilities

Randy Frank, Contributing Editor -- Design News, June 15, 2009

Micro Air Vehicles or MAVs have proven themselves in military situations and are now poised for consideration in domestic applications. Going beyond MAVs, the U.S. Dept. of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is pursuing the next generation of even smaller craft dubbed Nano Air Vehicles (NAVs). Creating ever smaller, pilotless and even autonomous flying vehicles requires a shopping list of sophisticated technologies. Continued improvement of existing technologies or technology breakthroughs are among the issues confronting developers of these crafts.

Surprisingly, many of the same systems found on the largest airplanes are also found on some of the smallest, including the infamous black box. The interaction among the flight systems is even more critical in the smaller aircraft adding to the complexity of the design problem.

"We are really looking at a very interdisciplinary type of activity, especially the control theory is completely redefined," says George Huang, Ph.D., a professor and chair of the Dept. of Mechanical and Materials Engineering in the College of Engineering and Computer Science at Wright State University, Dayton, OH. Huang and other university researchers are striving to take MAVs to an even smaller scale. In partnership with Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Huang is working to solve the flight problems of lightweight MAVs, which weigh only grams. A few manufacturers have solved these issues on larger MAVs currently used by the U.S. Air Force, Navy, Army and other defense organizations in a variety of missions.

Fixed-Wing MAVs

AeroVironment Inc., a California company that develops unmanned aircraft systems, shrunk its highly successful 4-lb Raven Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV) to a 1-lb MAV called the WASP III. "It had to be small and to be packaged in a very, very small area and volume such that it could be carried into the field by the operators who have to carry not just a UAV system, but also all the other things that they need to do their job," says Gabriel Torres, project manager and technical lead for the development of AeroVironment's WASP Project.

The propulsion system for the WASP III is heavily optimized for efficiency enabling it to carry a rather heavy infrared (IR) night vision camera (approximately 2-lb payload) for 45 minutes. "You can increase the endurance of an airplane by doing two things, decreasing its weight or increasing its efficiency," says Torres. "Obviously, when you have a fixed payload that you have to carry, you can't do much about the first one."

As a result, the engineering development involved an extensive amount of testing and optimization of the propulsion and battery systems for the electrically powered airplane. "The battery is the latest technology in lithium polymer cells," says Torres. The propulsion system and propeller are optimized for performance, while generating a minimum amount of heat.

One design issue AeroVironment engineers confronted was field serviceability. "For all of our systems, and WASP is no exception, we make a very careful, deliberate decision in the design process to make sure that the system is completely repairable in the field for the things that are going to be possibly damaged," says Torres. "We have parts in every one of our airplanes that are considered frangible - they're meant to break to relieve stress so that the expensive parts don't break."

For the fixed wing WASP III, the plastic propeller provides stress relief and may break to prevent damage to the engine. AeroVironment engineers developed an innovative method to quickly replace a propeller in less than five seconds, without using tools. "A custom-designed hub for the propeller allows you take it in and out very, very quickly," says Torres.

Ducted Fan MAVs

Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) aircraft using a ducted fan design avoid the propeller problem of a fixed-wing airplane but, at this point, is a much heavier aircraft. A ducted fan system draws air into the duct creating a region of low pressure around the duct that causes aerodynamic lift. DARPA has ducted fan data dating back to at least the 1950s, but a viable vehicle eluded reality until this decade. "The ducted fan system itself is just a completely unstable system, so it takes a very sophisticated flight control system and very fast processing rates to close the loop on those flight controls to keep it stable enough to employ a sensor," says Vaughn Fulton, senior unmanned aerial systems program manager, Honeywell's Defense and Space Electronics Systems.

For Honeywell's T-Hawk MAV, the solution employs its microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology. "Micro but very capable flight mission computers and inertial sensors together in a very small package," says Fulton. "Prior to that, the ducted fan vehicles had trouble because the size of the mission computers necessary to run these very complex flight controls was 20, 30 pounds worth of avionics and LRUs (line replaceable units)," he says.

In addition, Honeywell leveraged its design capability in engines, the nacelles that go around engines and the airflow associated with the turbojet engine components to improve a ducted fan aircraft performance. "We drove a several fold magnitude increase in the efficiency of a ducted fan system," says Fulton.

Cameras are another system area Honeywell engineers address in the development process. Initially, the cameras chosen for the MAV did not provide acceptable situational awareness. "We changed the field of view to match better the experimentation at the infantry level, how they want to employ the vehicle, at what range they were employing it, what altitude, their standoff ranges," says Fulton. "All of that drove additional specifications on the camera."

VTOL with a Twist

Aurora Flight Sciences initiated its GoldenEye 50 program as a technology validation aircraft. The project allowed Aurora to investigate various system and subsystems details of a ducted fan VTOL aircraft with two movable wings.

"The key figure of merit, the thing that you are interested in, is the ability to lift payload and fuel," says Tom Clancy, chief technical officer and vice-president of engineering, Aurora Flight Sciences. A rather complex set of trade-offs involve the duct sizing associated with the thrust loading of the lift fan and the power to weight of the engine.

Networking plays an important role in GoldenEye 50's control. Aurora Flight Sciences uses a network architecture for communications both inside and outside of the MAV.

Because of the networked architecture, the one operator and one aircraft with a point to point link between them of a typical radio-controlled UAV changes dramatically. Clancy explains, "It's a whole different paradigm, where you have multiple users doing different things and information being exchanged with different nodes of the UAV system all seemingly simultaneously."

Coping with the Environment

Working under non-laboratory conditions brings even greater challenges to MAVs. Weather not only impacts the flight of a MAV, it can destroy the communications. Radio communications can be disabled by lightning or electrostatic discharge (ESD) similar to any other RF system. In the case of an unmanned radio-controlled MAV, the loss of communication means lack of control and certainly the loss of transmitted data. To protect the radio components in guided missiles and other critical RF equipment, the military is turning to a surge protection scheme initially developed for amateur radio applications.

"A lightning strike is one thing, but actually the electrostatic discharge from a cloud-to-cloud event also can generate a 3,000 to 5,000V short duration pulse that is coupled into antennas," says Don Tyrrell, president of Alpha Delta Communications, a company that designs and manufactures surge suppressors, including the Model TT3G50 ARC-PLUG module.

Instead of a traditional LC suppression design, Alpha Delta Communications' solution is a constant impedance microwave-type thru line with a replaceable gas tube ARC-PLUG cartridge that bypasses high voltages to ground. The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) qualified 50Ω surge suppressor (Cage Code 389A5) has been protecting ground receiving antennas for Raytheon in the Patriot missile program and recently added UAVs to its list of applications.

The need for suppression demonstrates one of many subtle design aspects that can be overlooked and forgotten in a sophisticated design project such as a MAV.

DOD requests $5.4B for unmanned systems budget

Defense Department seeks $870 million increase on 2009 spending

• Jun 16, 2009

The Defense Department is seeking an increase of 18.4 percent, or $870 million, in funding for unmanned systems in fiscal 2010 over the amount spent on such systems in 2009, according to Defense Update.

An examination of the line items for unmanned systems in the fiscal 2010 budget request reveals a total of $5.4 billion, which is $870 million more than the $4.53 billion DOD plans to spend on unmanned systems in 2009. DOD spent $3.9 billion on unmanned systems in 2008.

The majority of the proposed funding for unmanned systems in fiscal 2010 would go toward unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Relatively few dollars would fund unmanned ground systems or unmanned marine systems,Military and Aerospace Electronics reported.

Of the $5.4 billion requested, $3.55 billion would be spent on procurement of unmanned systems, and $1.82 billion would be spent on research, development, test and evaluation.

The 2010 budget request includes:

• $608 million for five RQ-4 Global Hawk UAVs.
• $489 million for 24 MQ-9 Reaper UAVs.
• $651 million for 36 MQ-1 Predator UAVs.
• $609 million for RQ-7 Shadow tactical UAV modifications.
• $79 million for 704 RQ-11 Raven small UAVs.

As for unmanned ground vehicles, the Army plans to spend $125.6 million to continue refining the technology. The UGVs, which are included in the Army Brigade Combat Team Modernization program, include iRobot’s small UGV and Lockheed Martin’s Multifunction Utility/Logistics and Equipment system.

Although UAVs represent the most mature of the unmanned system technologies, defense experts believe that spending for unmanned ground and marine vehicles will increase sharply in the next few years as those technologies mature.

UAVs for Airborne Law Enforcement

The FAA feels they are not quite ready for prime time

Posted: June 16th, 2009 07:16 AM GMT-05:00

KENNETH J. SOLOSKY
Aviation Operations Contributor

The success of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) by the US Military in both Afghanistan and Iraq has been impressive. Unmanned aerial vehicles such as the Global Hawk and Predator have produced fantastic results. These aircraft can fire weapons and provide still and video images, often in real-time, to ground military commanders. Even some Air Force Generals have publicly remarked that the US military are likely developing the last aircraft to be flown by live human pilots. On the military side, fighters, bombers and even rescue aircraft can be flown by remote control with obvious safety advantages. The success of these aerial vehicles has not escaped the attention of domestic law enforcement and many agencies see many potential benefits.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Local Law Enforcement

The applications for an unmanned aerial vehicle for law enforcement are numerous and varied. These vehicles could perform directed patrols, armed with cameras monitored and flown by officers on the ground. Searches for missing persons or suspects could be conducted using heat seeking devices just as they are done today by airplanes and helicopters flown by human pilots. During a hostage situation, an unmanned aerial vehicle could hover near windows and provide real-time intelligence and data to ground officers. In a potential nuclear, chemical or biological incident, an unmanned aerial vehicle could be flown into the potential hot zone and if properly equipped, take air samples without risking the safety of any pilot. Since there is no pilot fatigue factor, no personal necessity breaks, unmanned aerial vehicles seem like an attractive alternative to airplanes and helicopters.

Just a few years ago, the only manufacturers building unmanned aerial systems were large corporations such as Northrop-Grumman and Boeing. However, in the last few years, literally hundreds of manufacturers now produce unmanned aerial systems ranging from hand held models to large turbine engine aircraft. If you add the introduction of very small digital cameras and video cameras, you can have a small and powerful tool. Some law enforcement agencies actually purchased some devices for use. Then the FAA stepped in and virtually grounded all airborne law enforcement unmanned aircraft.

The FAA cites serious technical issues as the reason for the ban on unmanned aerial law enforcement aircraft. In the military theater, the US military controls the airspace completely and there is no civilian aircraft to compete with. In the United States, there is a fairly busy mix of military, general aviation and airline traffic. The FAA feels that the technology is not at a point in which unmanned aerial vehicles can operate in this environment. Some law enforcement agencies disagree strongly. So strongly in fact, that they are fighting the FAA in court to lift the ban. Quoted in Government Technology aviation lawyer Tim Adelman remarks, "The FAA is essentially trying to scare people into not using these devices or to require stricter authorization. But that policy exceeds their authority granted by Congress." Mr. Adelman is currently lobbying the Federal Aviation Administration on behalf of certain law enforcement bodies - so far with limited success - to drop its legal veto.

The airborne law enforcement agencies that are trying to deploy unmanned aerial aircraft are arguing that these systems have evolved to a point that all safety standards are being met and they can be operated safely. Sgt, Brian Muller of the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department explains some contradictions in the regulations "If you are Joe Citizen, you can go down to the hobby store and buy a remote control airplane that you can fly in a park. But if you put a police uniform on, the feds want to step in and get in the way," he said.

Outside of the safety benefits, one major factor attracting interest is cost. An unmanned aerial system can be obtained for around $50,000 which is much cheaper than obtaining an airplane or helicopter.

The Future for Unmanned Aerial Systems
for Domestic Law Enforcement

The court fight will continue and perhaps in the next few years a decision will be reached regarding today’s unmanned airborne technology. There will also be many companies developing new technologies to meet any concerns of the FAA. The major factor is mixing unmanned aircraft in with the currently operating airplanes and helicopters. In an attempt to reign in costs, the FAA has mandated that UAVs must be able to avoid any conflict with current aircraft without requiring currently flying aircraft to have to install any new equipment.

One thing is certain: unmanned aerial systems will play a role in the future of airborne law enforcement.

Web Links:

• Airborne Law Enforcement Association

Lt. Kenneth J. Solosky retired after 21 years of service with the New York City Police Department and had been assigned to the Warrant Division and as a police academy instructor, serving in the ranks and assignments as a. patrol officer, patrol sergeant, lieutenant, and patrol platoon commander, He retired as the Chief Pilot/Director of Training in the NYPD Aviation Unit. Ken recently was appointed the Chief Pilot for the Newark, NJ Police Aviation Unit. Ken has a BA degree in Public Administration from St. John's University and is pursuing his MA degree in Criminal Justice from the City University of New York, John Jay College of Criminal Justice. He holds FAA Airline Transport Pilot ratings in both airplanes and helicopters, is a certified flight instructor and a member of the Airborne Law Enforcement Association (ALEA). He can be reached via e-mail at kenav8tor@officer.com.

US Army Awards Griffon Aerospace 5-year Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Contract

The US Army Aviation and Missile Command awarded a production, maintenance, engineering and flight services for the Remotely Piloted Vehicle Target (RPVT) program. Griffon has already manufactured over 2,000 Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAV) making them one of the highest volume UAV manufacturers in the United States.

(Vocus/PRWEB ) June 16, 2009 -- The US Army Aviation and Missile Command awarded Griffon Aerospace a five year contract for the production, maintenance, engineering and flight services for the Remotely Piloted Vehicle Target (RPVT) program. The contract also provides for aerial target scoring systems and services at Department of Defense (DOD) ranges worldwide.

As an incumbent this award has been a validation of our customer’s confidence in Griffon and allows us to continue leveraging our volume production into the growing low cost Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) market.

A key component of Griffon’s business strategy is to begin offering a fully autonomous UAV in the 150 pound class for under $50,000.00 and make UAVs affordable for both military and commercial applications.

As the incumbent contractor,Griffon has manufactured over 2,000 unmanned air vehicles(UAV) making them one of the highest volume UAV manufacturers in the United States. The primary air vehicle manufactured by Griffon is the OutlawTM, a 120 lb gross weight air vehicle capable of carrying 30 pounds of payload. The Outlaw™ is used by Air Defense units for qualification training and tactics developers interested in perfecting unmanned aircraft system engagement techniques. The Outlaw™ is also used by a number of weapon system developers as a surrogate unmanned aircraft systems and by the Department of Defense test community to stress developmental weapons systems under test.

Griffon CEO Larry French suggested that “As an incumbent this award has been a validation of our customer’s confidence in Griffon and allows us to continue leveraging our volume production into the growing low cost Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) market.” French added that “Griffon’s flight crews have been flying autopilot Outlaws and payloads for DOD worldwide for several years, which has helped to mature our design and increased our versatility for a number of UAS missions.”

French announced that Griffon recently completed production on a new full featured Unmanned Aerial System called “Boomer”. Our first “Boomers” are being delivered to the Air Force and are equipped with a steerable nose gear, retractable optics ball, video down links, and an Air Traffic Control transponder. According to French, the “Boomer” is an OutlawTM derivative that makes use of mature tooling and an ISO 9001:2008 manufacturing process which helped Griffon to maintain an incredible operational loss rate of 1.2%. French emphasized that “A key component of Griffon’s business strategy is to begin offering a fully autonomous UAV in the 150 pound class for under $50,000.00 and make UAVs affordable for both military and commercial applications.”

Griffon, a Madison Alabama based small business, designs, develops, and manufactures composite structures for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), space applications, and aerial targets.

Inside the Pentagon's New Plan for Drones That Don't Piss Off Pakistan

Esquire.com gets an advanced look at the Air Force roadmap to better robots — flying multi-missile hitmen, floating multi-target guidance systems, flapping suicide bombers — and how they can zero in on Al Qaeda without costing Hillary her job.

By: Erik Sofge

As hitmen go, robots are clumsy killers. The proof is in Pakistan, where local authorities claim that drone strikes on Al Qaeda and affiliate targets have killed at least 687 civilians. Whether or not that figure is inflated, the real or imagined death toll continues to fuel anti-American sentiment around the world. And that's to say nothing of the anti-administration fervor inside Washington circles as to whether President Obama and newly promoted general Stanley McChrystal, in continuing Bush-era policies with Bush-era technologies (even if they're offering Pakistan surveillance data), should continue air strikes near the Afghan border at all.

Now, the Air Force is planning to build a more selective breed of military drones, with swarms of bird-size bots shadowing targets and new unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) capable of launching mini-missiles at multiple targets at once. The mechanized assassin, it seems, is about to become a lot more professional.

Details of this new UAV development are limited — the Air Force Research Laboratory released a 87-page briefing last month, sketching out individual plans for a number of drone-related systems. The briefing, first obtained by Air Force Timesbut reviewed this morning for Esquire.com, offers the first detailed glimpse at an American military strategy that has adapted to conflicts in Pakistan and Afghanistan and "incorporates a vision and strategy... that focus on delivery of warfighting capability" with new robots.

Perhaps the most significant concept in the briefing is a UAV called Suburb Warrior, which would carry a new kind of smaller, precision-guided missile. Another project, called Sniper, is a targeting system that can lock on to multiple targets, allowing a single drone pilot to coordinate the attacks of a squadron of robots — or a single UAV to hit a group of enemies. Picking through the dozens of systems in this briefing, many of which will be flight-tested within five years, there's a clear set of goals: build smaller, even microscopic drones with smaller weapons that can hunt in swarms and engage targets in the close quarters of urban battlefields. And hunt as soon as possible.

To understand the significance of this new plan — how it could affect U.S. diplomacy in the region, reduce potential troop counts there, and, you know, better hunt Al Qaeda — one need only look at the current state of unmanned assassination. The least powerful weapons deployed by Predators — and their new big brother, the Reaper — are Hellfire missiles. These antitank weapons have incredibly literal names; they're designed to penetrate armored vehicles with a jet of molten metal. So if a U.S. target were sitting in a pickup truck, or even a second-floor window, a Hellfire is more than overkill. It's a collateral damage factory, turning a city street into hell on earth, and potentially flattening buildings.

To paraphrase the NRA, robots don't kill civilians; missiles do.

Theoretically, the smaller missiles launched by Suburb Warrior would wreak less havoc in crowded battlefields. In asking for proposals for a "Miniature Weapon Demonstration," the Air Force described the new weapon as an "air-launched, precision miniature munition capability," which would provide a "mobile target kill capability against a broad set of targets in a suburban environment." In the new briefing, the system is described as "for application in a dense, all environment urban battlespace."

That's Pentagon speak for Obama-approved missiles that are ready for anything short of Mogadishu, that cover the Pentagon's ass in smaller cities while they're at it. Notional drawings of Suburb Warrior show the drone loaded with four or more mini-missiles — far fewer munitions than a Reaper carries — but make clear that it's much smaller than even the Predator. The Sniper multiple-targeting system (that Goodyear-blimp-meets-Star-Wars-X-wing craft pictured above) isn't tied to a specific UAV, but it could be a perfect fit for delivering the Suburb Warrior.

Instead of dropping Hellfires or a 500-pound bomb on an insurgent hideout, one or more Suburb Warriors could fire a volley of mini-missiles at confirmed targets, without vaporizing the wedding reception next door. The drone is slated for flight tests by 2014, and Sniper is scheduled to begin tests in cruise missiles and UAVs within two years. The Air Force is reviewing white papers for miniature munitions now, and a contract could be awarded as early as September.

The problem, of course, is that even if the robotic upgrade continues on this fast track, five years is an eternity for America's diplomatic arm to wait for its military one. Who knows if Hillary Clinton will still have her job by then? If she does, what if the new robots still aren't precise enough? So if a squadron of low-flying drones and their micro-munitions don't provide a clean kill in those packed communities, the Air Force Research Laboratory has a more point-blank Plan B: tiny, biologically-inspired micro air vehicles (MAVs) that can flap through alleys and inside buildings.

Like most UAVs, these robots would most likely be used for surveillance and reconnaissance. But in an animated clip released by the Air Force late last year, a MAV lands on an enemy sniper, and, without so much as a prayer to its machine god, detonates itself. The new Air Force briefing doesn't elaborate on this miniature suicide-bomber concept, but it does include plans to have flocks of sparrow-size MAVs airborne by 2015, and even smaller, dragonfly-size robots by 2030. And with the recent news that Israel is developing an explosives-laden snakebot, the writing is on the wall: You can run from tomorrow's robotic hitmen, and you can hide, and they'll flap or squirm or glide into position and kill you anyway.

Erik Sofge is a freelance science, technology, and culture writer, covering the latest in everything from fake robots and rayguns to real ones for Popular Mechanics, Slate, and MSN. He lives in Boston with his wife and possibly animatronic unborn child.

Northrop Grumman shops drone to a wider market

By Christopher Hinton, MarketWatch

PARIS (MarketWatch) -- The market for unmanned aircraft has become one of the hottest opportunities for U.S. military contractors. Low operating costs and a reduced risk for crews, who can be stationed a continent away from the battlefield, make them an attractive alternative to traditional military aircraft.

The Teal Group, an independent research firm for the aerospace industry, has projected that the global market for unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, will double over the next decade to $8.7 billion, totaling more than $62 billion in sales for military contractors.

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At the cutting edge of that market is Northrop Grumman Corp. The Los Angeles-based military contractor makes the RQ-4 Global Hawk fixed-wing drone, in use in Afghanistan, and the unmanned MQ-8 Fire Scout helicopter.

At the Paris Air Show, Gene Fraser, vice president of Northrop's strike and surveillance division, sat down with MarketWatch to provide a bird's-eye view of what's happening in the UAV market.

Following are the highlights:

MarketWatch: What kind of role are unmanned vehicles playing in the grander scheme of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, or ISR? And do you see yourself partnering up more with other businesses to develop the full potential of your products?

Fraser: One of the strengths of Northrop is we have that capability indigenous within the company. You have your basic ISR platform and then you have integration of payloads upon that platform, and then you have the integration of the platform and the payload into the bigger system. In some cases we are partnering up on communications and network, in other cases we're doing it ourselves. It depends on what they bring to the mission.

Are you looking for any partnerships right now -- particularly to help you enter foreign markets?

We're in constant discussion with our customers about where it would be good to form a partnership. EADS is a good example with the German Global Hawk. For international markets it's always good to have a partner from that region to help you get into that market. It's no different than in any other business. ... If you want to go into another country and offer them an F-35, for example, [they'll want you to cooperate] with their indigenous industry. ... The only slight nuance is how much they would like to get as far as developing their own UAV capability, and that's similar to other areas of aerospace.

What's the potential for the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance market going forward for unmanned planes?

This is tough to predict for two reasons: Clearly there is a growth opportunity. The question is really being driven by how much more quickly is there going to be an adoption of unmanned systems into the fight. When you hear Secretary Gates say he wants more ISR platforms, he didn't necessary say he wanted more unmanned ISR platforms.

When you look at what an unmanned airplane can bring to the fight: relatively low cost and a relatively low footprint for the capability you can get. We see that's when the customer begins to appreciate more fully [the unmanned system]; that's where the upside is.

We also see the upside internationally. Our systems are very scalable in that you don't have to buy very many unmanned systems to get significant capability. They are suited for smaller economies, where they may just need a few Global Hawks or a few Fire Scouts systems.

Where's the real growth right now? Is it with the U.S.?

The defined growth is with the U.S., where the undefined is international, but we think it has a rather large potential. It's just not clearly defined because we think the adoption of the systems is not quite where it is in the U.S. market.

How much revenue comes from overseas?

Less than 1% overall. And if you look at our plans going forward, there isn't significant international growth [planned] because it's been very difficult for us to figure it out, so international growth is all upside for us.

How do you see that ratio changing over the next five years?

In the 10-year time frame, we see it's significant. One of the things we're trying to understand is that if you were to go back in history and look at what the [U.S. Department of Defense] plans were for acquiring unmanned systems, you wouldn't see anything near like what you see now.

In 2010 it is somewhere just above $7 billion, but if you went back 10 years ago to the [Pentagon] plan you wouldn't see anywhere near that number. And we see a similar type of growth in international, maybe not analogous in a total dollar figure, but we see that where there's hardly any plans today you'll see significant growth in the future.

What's driving that growth?

It covers the whole gamut from civil applications to what we call theater types of operations.

How are unmanned airplanes in terms of operation and support?

In the Vietnam era they'd send 100 airplanes to take out a bridge, including all the support airplanes.

In the first Gulf War we saw how many targets a particular airplane could take out. For example, a B-2 carrying 16 bombs can take out 16 targets by itself.

And now today we're talking about how many unmanned systems can just a single operator or a pair of operators fly at one time? You don't have to have an operator engage with the airplane 100% of the time. The airplanes are autonomous. So now you're seeing an economy of scale from multiple airplanes going across to a single target to basically a single airplane going to multiple targets, and now you have lower-risk crews operating multiple systems against multiple targets -- fewer people to man and manage the mission, fewer people to maintain, fewer people to hold the logistic trail of training and getting the system ready to go.

The general rule of thumb is that [the manpower involved in flying an unmanned system] is between 25% and 30% of what it would take to fly a manned system.

Geographically, where have you seen interest outside the U.S.?

Where haven't we seen it? Europe, the Middle East and the Pacific are all areas with extreme interest. And every one of those has customers who are at the point that when [the U.S. Navy completes its] operational evaluation of Fire Scout [for maritime aerial support], they will be there to go for an acquisition agreement. On Global Hawk, it was the same thing.

Any particular countries you haven't been able to form partnerships in?

No. It's been a remarkably warm welcome.