seascout

Oregon Iron Works, Inc. of 7

Sea Scout Unmanned Tactical Seaplane Offers Increased Mission Flexibility and Utility Oregon Iron Works, Inc. 9700 SE Lawnfield Road Clackamas, OR 97015 Contact: Josh Pruzek Phone: (503) 653-6300 [x1323] Fax: (503) 653-5870 Email: [email protected] Website: www.oregoniron.com Command: NAVAIR Topic: N04-044 PROBLEM STATEMENT The Navy has long since expressed a need for greater operational capability and mission flexibility in deploying maritime or ship-based sensor payloads while at the same time reducing the amount of logistical effort necessary to support sensor deployment. Various sensors are currently employed at sea for a wide variety of tactical maritime surveillance and reconnaissance missions. These sensors may be air droppable stationary sensors or deployed on manned or unmanned aircraft or surface vehicles. Stationary sensors are limited to a fixed area of interest, while sensors deployed on a surface vehicle suffer slow transit speeds within the mission area and limited over-the-horizon surveillance. Aircraft-based sensors have the ability to survey a greater area of interest in a shorter amount of time, but can be expensive (manned aircraft deployed asset) or logistically complicated with regard to ship-based launch and retrieval (unmanned aircraft deployed asset). A UAV seaplane has several advantages; it can use both airborne and surface sensors, it offers a cost effective airborne sensor platform and it greatly simplifies the launch and retrieval since it only needs a davit or ramp. Additionally, the aircraft can be riverine, pier, dock, or barge based - platforms where previous aviation assets have been difficult or impossible to assimilate.


WHO CAN BENEFIT? The Sea Scout can extend the capabilities of ANY non-aviation capable boat by providing eyes in the sky, or serving as a comms relay, or other air or sea based sensor platform. Additionally, the aircraft can be based ashore providing continuing support in mission critical areas. Specific groups that may benefit from the Sea Scout include LCS, DDX, LPD-17, SEAL Teams, Riverine Teams, Port or Harbor Security, Border Patrol, USCG, and NOAA. The USMC and Army can also benefit as the former has Riverine Forces and routinely operate in the littorals. The US Army has extensive watercraft used in logistical operations and could also benefit from an indigenous UAV platform. BASELINE TECHNOLOGY Existing ship-based unmanned aviation assets typically fall into two categories- small (less than 100 lbs gross weight) Unmanned Aircraft (UA) such as the Boeing Scan Eagle, ACR Silver Fox, or DRS Neptune and mid-size (less than 500 lbs gross weight) UA’s such as the Navy’s RQ-2B Pioneer from IAI/AAI.

Both categories of aircraft are typically launched with catapults and other devices and recovered with large nets or arresting cables. These mechanisms greatly increase the logistical footprint and complexity of the system, and require significant amounts of valuable deck space in order to be brought onboard a ship. Small UAV’s with sensors can typically cost between $100K-$300K for a single airframe and require less deck space than a

RQ-2B Pioneer Launching Catapult

RQ-2A Pioneer Arresting Net

Photo: http://uav.navair.navy.mil/new_pioneer/articles/PioneerGetsLeaner_dec2005.htm

Photo: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Iowa_drone.jpg#filehistory


larger, mid-sized air vehicle, but are typically limited to 5-10 lbs of payload capability. These smaller aircraft also lack sufficient payload volume for larger, more sophisticated sensors, hereby limiting their capabilities. Larger UAV’s are often capable of carrying larger Electro-Optics / Infrared (EO/IR) cameras and other sophisticated payloads but can cost upwards of $1 million dollars for a single aircraft and require the aforementioned, large, complicated launch and retrieval mechanisms and correspondingly greater levels of effort required to support them. They are also considerably more expensive to support. TECHNOLOGY DESCRIPTION Sea Scout provides unmanned aerial operations from both current and future Navy/USMC/Army platforms which do not currently have an aviation asset that are equipped with either a well deck or davit. It can also be hosted by small ships, boats, and barges, open water platforms, and harbors independent of airport and aviation facilities. By providing the Navy with the capability to operate unmanned aircraft independently from airports and large aviation capable ships, scarce and valuable airport or deck space is preserved for manned aircraft or other assets. A shore based seaplane UAV only needs a boat ramp, beach, or a davit on a river, reservoir, or lake to provide air support. Sea Scout can also operate from ships termed Vessels of Opportunity (VOA). In many missions, the Navy does not have a dedicated platform to support those missions. In such cases, VOA’s are rented, leased, or otherwise obtained as a base for these missions. Some examples include Special Forces Operations, Harbor Security, and Vessel Inspection. In addition to the VOA’s, Sea Scout can supplement ISR, patrol, and provide air support to the many existing platforms such as LCS, PC’s, Mark-V, and riverine assault craft, as well as supplement the operations of the Harbor Security Teams, Riverine Force, and Naval Coastal Warfare Groups. Providing UAV assets independent from shore infrastructure adds flexibility to the US Navy, USMC, and SOCOM and eases operational and logistics bottlenecks at overstressed shore aviation facilities.


The Sea Scout can operate from a surface ship or riverine base without the need for launch and retrieval mechanisms and contraptions by utilizing the surface of the water for take off and landing. This is made possible by the auto-take off and landing algorithms built into the Geneva Aerospace guidance and control system. Geneva’s patented Variable Autonomy Control System (VACS) allows the Sea Scout to be operated with variable levels of operator or pilot involvement. The ground control station is designed to minimize the equipment footprint and consists of a laptop computer capable of commanding multiple Sea Scout UA and a radio transmitter, interface panel and antenna. The Sea Scout can also accommodate a larger sensor payload than other small ship-based UAV’s. The modular, flexible payload space is designed to accommodate up to 50 lbs of payload, allowing room for larger, full featured day and night cameras, miniature synthetic aperture radars, magnetic anomaly detectors, and hyper-spectral imaging sensors. The aircraft could also be configured to facilitate mission equipment packages that may require a sensor / water interface such as undersea comms if so required. This is not possible with other ship-based UAV’s that cannot land on water.

Features, advantages and benefits provided by OIW’s Sea Scout Unmanned Aircraft Features Advantages Benefits

Water based auto-take off, auto-land and sea loiter algorithms

Expands UAV operations to rivers, lakes, lagoons, bays, and ocean ops

Frees UAV’s from crowded and restricted air facilities

Low cost composite fuselage construction

Couples the low cost & toughness of marine composites with aviation accuracy & strength

Production of low cost, easily repairable composite fuselages and components

Rugged aluminum wing, horizontal tail, and pylon construction

Aluminum structures are lightweight, damage tolerant, and easily repairable

Familiar metallic structures reduce air vehicle manufacturing cost, repair cost, and replacement cost

On board sea state measurements Proved LIDAR sensor effective for altitude measurements

Very accurate, low cost height and wave height measurements

Rapid airframe design technology

Compresses engineering time frame into several months for a complete loads and structural analysis

Gives UAV’s the same quality engineering as manned aircraft, thereby easing flight certifications

UAV loads analysis technology Applies manned aircraft flight criteria to UAV’s

Allows certification authorities to easily understand UAV loads and speeds approval process

Integral starter/generator Remote and safe starting of aircraft

Allows UAV’s operation w/o direct and dangerous physical starting

Laser alignment assembly Accurate and cost effective rigging of aircraft

Increases airframe accuracy performance & reduces errors & time

Modular, flexible payload space Flexibility in mission planning and operational capability

Aircraft can be reconfigured with multiple payloads

Folded Dimensions 14’10.1” L X 8’11.2” W X 4’11.3” H


CURRENT STATE OF DEVELOPMENT The Sea Scout is a spiral development program. During Phase I of the program, OIW demonstrated that the Sea Scout could provide a practical alternative to traditional stationary sensors or other sensor payloads deployed on a traditional manned or unmanned surface vehicle. The focus of Phase II (completed Q2 2006, TRL 6) has been to refine the Sea Scout mission and CONOPS, complete an Initial Baseline Design (Spiral 0) specification, and perform risk reduction through testing in key disciplines such aerodynamics, hydrodynamics, propulsion, avionics, structures, manufacturing, and systems engineering. Major accomplishments of Phase II included Spiral 0 taxi testing in September – December ’05, tow tank testing in February ’06, and Spiral 0 Flight Testing of the Spiral 0 airframe and avionics in March – May ’06. Phase II also saw the major development of the core avionics and C3 sub-systems development, along with the autonomous water take off and landing algorithms development.

Sea Scout Unmanned Aircraft Spiral Development

Phase III efforts to date have been to focus on the lessons learned from the Initial Baseline Design Spiral 0 airframe. A Spiral 1 conceptual design was completed in August ’06, and a Proof of Concept (POC) scale demonstrator aircraft was taxi and flight tested in September ’06. Additionally, the Spiral 1 airframe has completed a NAVAIR Design Review. The detail design has since been completed in November ’06 and the first two Spiral 1 airframes are now under construction. Tasks remaining to be completed in Phase III are to verify the Spiral 1 performance through taxi and flight testing. These tests are currently scheduled for March – April 2007 through contractor testing at designated NAVAIR test ranges.

2006 2007 2008

Spiral 1

Spiral 2

Future Spirals

• Baseline • Moderate

• First flight March

• Technology Demonstrator

Spiral 0

• Improved Operational Capabilities

• Optimized Airframe

• Expanded Sea State Operations

• Production Vehicles Q4 2008

• 1st generation operational vehicle

• First flight in Q1 2007

• Provides the US Navy with a Limited Operational Capability

• Improved performance


TECHNOLOGY AVAILABILITY Technology areas that have been refined to date in the Sea Scout development program include rapid low cost UAV design and development, rapid UAV prototyping, sea plane autonomous water landing algorithms, LADAR-based sea state sensing, and seaplane UAV taxi and flight testing logistical procedures. The Spiral 1 Airframe will provide a limited operational capability for the Navy. Several additional identified tasks beyond Phase III are required to transition to full system testing, demonstration, and production. Payload sensor integration will identify specific mission equipment packages required by the user community and integrate the sensor payloads into the airframe and avionics. An overseas, in-theater operational demonstration of the Sea Scout’s capabilities shall serve as a baseline for mission capability and performance. Hydrodynamic response modeling will serve as a basis to refine and harden the Sea Scout’s autonomous take off, landing, and sea loiter algorithms. Additional verification of sea state wave train predictions, and an increase in the capabilities of the autonomous wave detection and sensing systems, coupled with the results of the hydrodynamic response modeling will expand the Sea Scout’s operating limitations into increased sea states and confused seas. Finally, airframe optimization at the conclusion of Spiral 1 performance testing will result in a reduction in aircraft empty weight, an increase in the aircraft’s gross aircraft weight, and an overall increase in performance and endurance. Requirements, funding, and participants needed to transition the Sea Scout to TRL 9

TRL

Tests/Engineering Performance Dates

Funding Required

Performing & Funding Organization

7 Sensor Integration &

Testing Q2 2007 $1 million OIW, NAVAIR,

6 Overseas Sensor Demo

Q2 2007 $750 K OIW, NAVAIR, NECC

5 Hydrodynamic response modeling

Q3 2007 $1 million OIW & Prime

5 Sea State Correlation Q3 2007 $2 million OIW, Prime 6 Complex Sea State

Measurements Q4 2007 $3 million OIW & Prime

7 Airframe & Powerplant Optimization

Q1 2008 $750 K OIW & Prime

8 Production – 5 Systems

Q4 2008 $5 million OIW and Prime

Total $13.5 million


REFERENCES

Naval Sea Systems Command JKJ Engineered Technologies, Inc. Michael L. Bosworth William Horn 1333 Isaac Hull Avenue SE STOP 5173 PO Box 1464 Washington Navy Yard, D.C. Lusby, MD 20657 (202) 781-3072 (410) 394-2726 [email protected] [email protected]

Naval Air Systems Command Geneva Aerospace Dr. Shawn Woodson Dave Duggan Advanced Aerodynamics, AIR-4321 4240 International Pkwy. , Suite 100 48110 Shaw Road, Bldg. 2187, Suite 1320-B4 Carrollton, TX 75007 Patuxent River, MD 20670 (469) 568-2376 x108 (301) 342-8543 [email protected] [email protected] ABOUT THE COMPANY Oregon Iron Works, Inc., (OIW) has been a pioneering force in the fabrication industry since 1944. The company first found success in the hydroelectric and bridge fabrication industries. In the early 1980’s, the company entered the marine industry, building workboats for the US Navy. Since that time the marine division has grown significantly, both in the size, capability, and complexity of the craft it builds. Current examples include high speed, low signature vessels, fast patrol craft, powered workboats, modular powered causeways, unpowered barges, unmanned surface vessels and unmanned seaplanes. OIW fabricates in both aluminum and steel, as well as fiberglass and composites. Unlike other companies, OIW Marine has tremendous expertise with prototype development and advancing proof-of-concept demonstrators into full-scale production runs, while respecting the economics of every job. Because OIW is a small business, they respond quickly to customer’s needs and expectations, and understand that building a performance craft also requires dedicated management of the bottom line. Today the company is also building products in the demanding aerospace, nuclear and ground based missile defense industries. The quality, specifications and tolerances required in all these fields is unsurpassed. The OIW team brings this unique level of skill and expertise to every project.

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