First Platform to Focus on Electronic Attack for SEAD Operations
Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works and BAE Systems’ rapid prototyping offshoot, FalconWorks, have announced a new partnership to jointly design and develop a family of autonomous uncrewed air systems (UAS). The collaboration will begin with a platform equipped with electronic attack capabilities.
Electronic Attack for SEAD Operations
According to FalconWorks Managing Director David Holmes, these capabilities will enable the aircraft to support Suppression of Enemy Air Defense (SEAD) operations.
During a press briefing at the DSEI exposition in London, Holmes emphasized that recent conflicts have highlighted „the need for our warfighters to be given the capability [to] … punch a hole through these very complex and denied electronic warfare environments.”
BAE Systems Support
Holmes also noted that multiple BAE Systems companies, including UK drone manufacturer Malloy Aeronautics, will support the collaboration with Skunk Works. Additionally, BAE Systems’s microwave products center in Nashua, NH, will „no doubt” be involved with aircraft design to resolve size, weight, and power (SWaP) issues.
Common Multi-Mission Truck (CMMT) Concept
OJ Sanchez, Skunk Works’s general manager, told reporters that the overall design of the future family of air systems, featuring a central focus on modular payloads, is based on the company’s previous Common Multi-Mission Truck (CMMT) concept.
Versatile Launch Capabilities
Sanchez shared that the air system will be „adaptable” and capable of being launched via „air drop, a ground launch, maritime launch or even out of a wide body [logistics] application.”
Key Details Undisclosed
The executives did not disclose key details such as possible stealth attributes, range, cost per vehicle, or internal investments made to accelerate the project. However, an undisclosed engine has been selected.
Cost-Effective and Deployable
Skunk Works and FalconWorks will jointly collaborate on the family of air systems „in a way that is cost effective for our customers, easily deployable and has the expandability that is needed in the marketplace today,” said Sanchez.
Flexible Workshare Arrangements
„What we have found in this evolving space [of future aviation capabilities] as well as in the Skunk Works and Falcon Works ecosystem is you have to be flexible to include” workshare arrangements, Sanchez explained. „As those flow out” they will be shared with the media.
Building on Existing Collaboration
The new partnership between BAE Systems and Skunk Works builds on „over 12 months” of the two companies working together, added Holmes.
