US Army FTUAS competitors complete prototype testing

The Griffin Aerospace Valiant, which completed prototype testing alongside the Textron Systems Aerosonde. (Griffon Aerospace)

The US Army has completed prototype testing of the Griffon Aerospace Valiant and Textron Systems Aerosonde Mk. 4.8 HQ unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), competitors for the Future Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System (FTUAS) Rapid Prototyping Program, the service announced on 11 September. The competitors are now set to deliver production-representative UAVs to the army for further testing.

Testing began with Modular Open Systems Architecture (MOSA) experiments, in which the UAVs' vendor-provided mission computers were replaced by a third-party computer and a mix of third-party and vendor software, the army said in a statement.

“Swapping the hardware and software allowed an independent assessor to measure the openness and modularity of the prototype systems to determine the extent to which MOSA objectives were satisfied,” the service said.

Both craft were then shipped to the army's Redstone Test Center, outside Huntsville, Alabama, where the UAVs flew multiple flights to demonstrate “vertical take-off and landing (VTOL), reduced acoustic signature, on-the-move command-and-control, rapid emplacement, system integration, and flight performance”, the army said.

The testing concludes Option 3 of the FTUAS contract, for which only Griffon Aerospace and Textron Systems made the cut; previous rounds involved five companies. Both Griffon Aerospace and Textron Systems are now meant to incorporate the army's feedback for Option 4 and deliver production-representative UAVs for additional flight tests, as well as electromagnetic and environmental evaluations. Option 4 is to conclude with a production readiness review, following which the army is likely to downselect to a single provider.

Griffon Aerospace declined to comment on the development while Textron Systems had not responded to questions at the time of publication.