[April 09, 2014]WASHINGTON (Reuters) — The U.S. Navy
said on Tuesday it continued to examine options for a system to help
Northrop Grumman Corp's new MQ-4 Triton high-altitude unmanned spy plane
detect and avoid other aircraft, and expected to decide on a new
approach in less than a year.
The Navy last year halted work on a complex "sense and avoid"
radar being developed by Exelis Inc after the company ran into
technical challenges in trying to develop a system small enough to
fit on the nose of the drone.
Sean Burke, deputy program manager for the Triton program, told
reporters at an annual Navy League conference that the Triton was
making good progress in flight testing and development, but it had
proven technically challenging to scale down the complex, 360-degree
radar needed for the new sensor.
"We're taking a very hard look at what the right way forward is, and
whether we continue with ours or whether we take a step in another
direction," Burke said. He said a decision was expected within a
year but declined to be more specific.
Exelis confirmed that work had been halted on the radar last year
but had no additional comment.
Burke said there was no other sensors on the market now that met the
Navy's requirements, and that officials were also looking at other
technology options besides radar.
The Navy needs the new sensor to help avoid other aircraft since
operational plans for the Triton call for it to shift from its
normal flight altitude of over 60,000 feet to as low as 5,000 feet
to photograph and record areas of interest.
Commercial aircraft do not fly at the higher altitudes where Triton
will generally fly, but the sensor will give it "eyes in the
cockpit" and allow it to move to lower altitudes safely.
The plane will also need such sensors to get certified by the U.S.
Federal Aviation Administration for broader integration into U.S.
airspace, Burke said.
The Navy plans to have two Triton aircraft operating in 2017, and
four by 2018. The planes will carry out persistent wide area
surveillance, but their capabilities will be expanded over time to
help them listen for sonar buoys and other signals, and to relay
airborne communications.
Burke said if development had been completed, Triton would have been
ideally suited to help hunt for the Malaysia Airlines plane that has
been missing in the Indian Ocean for a month.
He said the plane was in flight testing now, but could not be used
in the global search since its cameras and other sensors would not
be integrated and flight tested until September.
An earlier demonstration plane built by Northrop could not be used
because it relied on commercial satellites whose reach did not
extend to the remote ocean area where the plane is believed to have
crashed, Burke said.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; editing by Mohammad Zargham)
