DoD Buzz: OSD Eyes Near-Space UAVs

OSD Eyes Near-Space UAVs
By Colin Clark Tuesday, May 11th, 2010 10:23 am
Posted in Air, Intelligence, International, Space

The enormous need for overhead reconnaissance to combat IEDs and to track terrorists and insurgents over large areas for long periods is driving at least one part of the Pentagon to develop so-called stratospheric UAVs that can hover above the Jet Stream for several months or more.

And that may be the harbinger of a long-term shift in the UAV market, according to one advocate of the concept, Ed Herlik. He’s the lead author of a market forecast report titled “Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for Counter-Insurgency Global Market & Technologies Outlook 2010–2015,” produced by Market Intel Group, where Herlik is a partner.

The report predicts persistent stratospheric UAVs will significantly change the marketplace for both platforms and payloads in less than five years. “Persistent surveillance (months or a year on-station above the Jet Stream) is the one capability that will significantly enhance the ability to combat an insurgency while minimizing troop risk and ground commitment,” the report says.

Aerostats are tied to the ground and so don’t rise high enough. Balloons float with the wind and so can’t persist over a target. Air ships, blimps or whatever you want to call them are driven by propellers and so can sometimes hold position against the wind. Near-Space UAVs will sail above the Jet Stream, between 50,000 and 70,000 feet, where there is relatively little wind — around 30 knots on average.

Herlik has been here before. He pushed the concept of near-space UAVs when he was at Air Force Space Command. He was pushed out and the concept, which had had support from top service leadership, pretty much died.



unhappycamper comment: I'll bet a buck they eventually will be armed with some new variant of the Maverick missile.

Thats what the problem is. We can't be happy with only destroying lives so we can live the life we live here, we have to try to make others be like us too. This is all so fucked up. We've got people who are loosing everything they ever had and yet we have money to throw at projects like this. The love of money is going to, hell is the downfall of our democracy. And its all happening right under our blind eyes.
There is no one so blind as those who choose to not see.