Defense Acquisitions. Better Acquisition Strategy Needed for Successful Development of the Army's Warrior Unmanned Aircraft System
Abstract
The Army has determined that the Warrior is the best option available to meet its operational requirement, which requires an unmanned aircraft system dedicated to direct operational control by its field commanders. The Army believes that the Predator A is operationally and technically mismatched with its needs. The Army intends to use Warrior to enhance overall force capability by teaming it with other of its assets such as the Apache helicopter, using common ground control equipment to network with other unmanned aircraft systems, and allowing soldiers in the field to operate the aircraft. The Army expects Warrior to have several key technical features that the Army believes will better meet its operational needs, including a heavy fuel engine that uses a single Army-wide fuel, an automatic take-off and landing system to improve safety, a faster tactical common data link for interoperability with other Army assets, an ethernet for quicker communications within the Warrior system, greater carrying capacity for weapons, and avionics with enhanced reliability. The Army estimates that each Warrior aircraft and associated basic equipment will cost about $4.4 million, less than the aircraft and similar equipment for the Predator A at $4.8 million. While the Predator B system is expected to meet or exceed some of the Warrior's capabilities, it is estimated to cost $9 million for similar equipment.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 01, 2006
- Accession Number
- ADA447937
Entities
Organizations
- United States Government Accountability Office