Above the US Army's Yuma proving grounds in Arizona, Raytheon's blended wing body KillerBee unmanned air vehicle has been flight-tested using a heavy fuel engine, used a common datalink to transmit video and been controlled using a ground control station that could operate many of the UAVs at once.
The company's small tactical unmanned aircraft systems (STUAS) ground control station, which Raytheon describes as a variant of the US Navy's Tactical Control System, uses the Linux operating system.
The common datalink is designed to be interoperable with open architecture networks and KillerBee used it to relay video from 4,500ft (1,370m) to a ground station over 93km (50nm) away. In a similar test the Linux ground control station provided target information to a distant soldier equipped with a Javelin anti-tank guided weapon. Following the Yuma flights, Raytheon's engine will now undergo full qualification flight tests.
"The ground system can be flown using either a joystick or a game pad controller used by many gaming enthusiasts today," says Raytheon Intelligence and Information Systems business development director, Mark Bigham. "Furthermore, it provides the navy and Marine Corps with the first open universal control system, capable of flying KillerBee, MQ-8 Fire Scout and other UASs simultaneously."
As well as the common datalink, GCS and heavy fuel engine Raytheon has tested a capability to adapt the control of three electro-optical infrared laser sensors. Raytheon is offering KillerBee to the US Navy and Marine Corps for their respective STUAS and Tier II missions. The TCS variant ground system will be compatible with the Marine Corps' combat operations centre.