In light of what appears to be a looming joint strike fighter shortfall, the US Navy has sought to repurpose one of its unmanned projects, following a directive from the Pentagon.
The USN's Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) effort will be adjusted towards the development of a Carrier-Based unmanned Aerial Refueling System (CBARS).
USNI reports the move will accompany an additional buy of Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornets over the next several years and accelerated purchase and development of the F-35 JSF. In so doing, it will move more stealth capability sooner into the carrier air wing and create a development path for future unmanned systems onboard the Navy's aircraft carriers.
The move to accelerate the development of the F-35 comes on the back of the report from the Pentagon's chief weapons tester Michael Gilmore to Congress in which he has concluded that the F-35 Block 3F (warfighting capability) software will not be ready by August 2017.
This poses a major barrier to the Navy's plan to regulalrly deploy the carrier variant of the JSF – the F-35C.
The Pentagon direction for UCLASS changes the character of the program from the Navy’s intended information, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) platform that would patrol while the rest of the carrier air wing was at rest, to an aircraft that will actively operate with the air wing.
In developing the new effort, Naval Air Systems Command will split CBARS into three efforts, developing the UAV airframe, the control system and the communications “connectivity segment,” with the Navy acting as the lead systems integrator, according to USNI.
The development of an unmanned tanker will serve to allay USN concerns as to the strain tanking missions were putting on its Super Hornets, with up to 30 per cent of the type's sorties being devoted to tanking.