The U.S. Army announced the winner of its brigade/division level Tactical UAV (TUAV) competition on 27 Dec 99, the AAI Shadow 200T. The $41.8 million Low Rate Initial Production contract is for four TUAV systems, each with four air vehicles. Initial Operational Test and Evaluation (IOT&E) is to begin in third quarter, FY2001 (Apr-Jun 2001). AAI Corporation is located in Hunt Valley, MD, and produces the RQ-2 Pioneer in partnership with Pioneer UAVs Inc. for the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps.

The U.S. Navy's ship-based Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) UAV competition is to end in an LRIP award in March 2000. The three competing systems are the Bell Helicopter Textron's Eagle Eye, Sikorsky's Cypher III, and Northrop Grumman Ryan/Schweizer's RoboCopter, an unmanned variant of the Schweizer Model 300C helicopter. The award will be worth $332 million over 6 years and eventually procure 23 systems of four air vehicles each, 12 for the U.S. Navy and 11 for the U.S. Marine Corps. Initial Operational Capability (IOC) is scheduled for 2004. The U.S. Coast Guard is also interested in this evaluation as it may impact their selection of a ship-based UAV for their purposes.

The Bombardier CL-327 Guardian successfully conducted shipboard demonstration in October 1999 aboard the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Thetis. The USCG is seriously considering a ship-based UAV as a part of its Integrated Deepwater System (IDS) recapitalization program of all USCG sea and air assets in the coming decade.

The Army TUAV competition has progressed to its second, flight demonstration phase. Each of the four UAV systems remaining from the first phase is to demonstrate a number of key field capabilites during a 10-day evaluation, including a dedicated week of flight and ground testing, at Ft Huachuca, Arizona. These demonstrations include takeoff and landing within 100 m (soccer field length), 4 hours time on station at a distance of 50 km, a night flight capability, an ops tempo of 12 hours of flying over a 3 day period, and the ability to be loaded into two C-130s. The four semifinalists and their approximate periods are:

The Army intention is to award the TUAV contract on 8 Dec.

The Northrop-Grumman Ryan RQ-4/Global Hawk high altitude endurance UAV successfully completed a 26-hour flight from Edwards AFB, California, to Alaska and back on 19-20 Oct. The mission included transmitting imagery to NAS Fallon, where it was successfully processed by the Common Imagery Processor (CIP). One of the Global Hawk's two Mission Management Computers failed one hour from landing without any adverse effect on mission completion. This mission was a warm-up for upcoming ones to the East Coast and to the Azores next Spring.

The Third AUVSI/FAA Industry Support Group Workshop was held on 19 Oct in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The keynote speaker was Jeff Griffith of HQ FAA, who revealed the FAA has received only 20 requests for Certificates of Authorization to operate UAVs in civil airspace and has approved all of them. Of the 20, 15 were issued to the military, 3 for civil government (law enforcement) demonstrations, and 2 for commercial operations. The four draft FAA Circular Advisories on UAVs drawn up between 1992 and 1996 are awaiting the emergence of a demonstrated market for UAV use of civil airspace before evolving eventually into a UAV-dedicated Federal Aviation Regulation. He also announced the FAA had formally adopted the term "Remotely Operated Aircraft (ROA)" for UAVs as of 1 May 99. Details of this, and the previous day's meeting on Civil and Commercial Applications of UAVs, can be found at www.psl.nmsu.edu.

Two additional Global Hawks, numbers six and seven, beyond the five built for the HAE UAV ACTD have been funded for construction in the post ACTD transition period. The two will be the first of the Block 5 configuration.

The box score for UAVs during the Kosovo air campaign (Operation Allied Force, Apr-Jun 99) was:

UAV Type	Number Deployed	Basing	Losses			Remarks
			Combat	Other	Total
RQ-1/ Predator	8	Tuzla, Bosnia	3	1*	4	Losses on Apr, 17-18 May; Approx. 1000 hrs flown
RQ-2/ Pioneer	5-7	USS Ponce	2	2**	4	Losses occurred early Jun; Approx. 80 hrs. flown
RQ-5/ Hunter	14	Skopje, Macedonia	5	2***	7	Losses occurred 7 Apr, 18 May (2), 29-30 May, early Jun (2); 2021 hrs flown

* One Predator lost in an engine-out landing attempt; subsequent investigation revealed contaminated fuel.
** One Pioneer may have also suffered combat damage, contributing to its eventual loss.
*** One Hunter had a mechanical failure and was recovered, damaged, by parachute. Second Hunter impacted a mountain enroute (operator error).

The Army TUAV Competition is to complete its first phase (oral presentations), which started in June, by mid August. Four, possibly five finalists, will be selected from these presenters over the coming month and invited back for the second phase, an operational, flying evaluation, to start in late September/early October, and take a week for each vendor. LRIP contract award will occur around the first of the year. IOC is to occur 15 months after award, in the spring of 2001, possibly with the 15th MI Battalion at Ft Hood, Texas. Contending teams and their UAVs include:

Shadow 200T	AAI, teamed with Raytheon, BAI, United Defense, Camber, and DP Associates
Spy Glass	AeroVironment
Outrider	Alliant Techsystems
Crecerelle (?)*	DynCorp, teamed with Sagem
Scorpion	Freewing Aerial Robotics, teamed with Marconi-Astronics, -GDE, -Hazeltine, and -Tracor, Boeing, and Sparta
Prowler II	General Atomics
Spectre II*	Northrop Grumman, teamed with Meggitt
Sentry	S-TEC, teamed with TRW and IAI

* Crecerelle (French) and Spectre (British) are two names for the same basic air vehicle.

L3 Comm's Tactical Common Data Link (TCDL) began initial evaluation flights onboard a General Atomics RQ-1/Predator at El Mirage in late March. Harris' version of TCDL will also begin flight testing in the next few months, sharing time on the same Predator.

One of two RQ-4/Global Hawk high altitude endurance UAVs (AV #2) crashed at Edwards AFB, CA, on 29 Mar 99 during a test flight after it failed to recover from a flat spin. The accident investigation board cleared the remaining Global Hawk to resume ground and taxi testing on 8 April.

The VTOL Tactical UAV RFP is expected to be released by the Naval Air Systems Command in August 1999, with LRIP and operational evaluations beginning in 2002. The full production contract will be for 12 VTUAV systems for the Navy and 11 for the Marines. For details, see this site's Requirements and Opportunities/Procurement section.

The second, shipboard trials phase of the VTOL Tactical UAV Technology Demonstration will involve two of the three UAV systems which participated in last spring's first phase demonstration at Yuma, AZ. Bombardier's counter-rotating rotor CL-327/Guardian will go to sea this summer aboard a frigate, and Bell Helicopter Textron's larger, tilt-rotor Eagle Eye follows in Feb 2000 aboard a destroyer. Results are intended to be used in evaluating responses to the VTUAV RFP, scheduled for release this August.

The Air Force Material Command will host its third annual UAV Workshop at Wright Patterson AFB in Dayton, OH, on 20-21 Apr 99. The purpose of this workshop is to "facilitate the exchange of UAV-related information within the Air Force, our sister services, and government offices... to support current and future UAV initiatives and Air Force long range UAV planning." Last year's briefings, maps, and this year's agenda are available on www.asc.wpafb.af.mil. Visit requests should be sent to ASC/RAVS, Mrs Cindy Rose at 937-255-5181 or Mr Ed Huling at 937-255-3356 prior to 10 Apr.

UAV deployments to the Balkans to support the Kosovo air campaign are increasing and now represent all three U.S. military services. The Air Force RQ-1/Predator was already in the region (Taszar, Hungary) supporting Bosnia peace enforcement efforts. Eight Army RQ-5/Hunters from the 15th MI Battalion, Ft. Hood, TX, deployed forward from Ramstein AB, Germany on 1 April and suffered the Hunter's first combat loss on 7 April. Five Navy RQ-2/Pioneers sailed for the Mediterranean aboard the USS Ponce on 14 April.

The Tactical UAV RFP was formally released by the Army's Aviation and Missile Command on 5 Apr 99, initiating a two phase process to select a non-developmental UAV system to address the Army's Close Range reconnaissance requirement for brigade commanders. In the first phase, UAV vendors have 6 weeks to respond to the RFP and will present the merits of their proposals in day-long briefings during a 30 day period starting in mid June, at the end of which the Army will award $250K contracts to three or four finalists to continue on to Phase 2. Key qualifying criteria are a system (4 aircraft) cost of under $4M, the ability to operate on MOGAS, and an integrated EO/IR sensor. The second, System Capability Demonstration phase consists of each finalist flying his UAV during a 1 week period in August, which will include flying a minimum of 12 hours a day through a 72 hour high ops tempo period. The Demonstration's key performance criterion is the capability to remain on station for 4 hours at 50 km. LRIP award is scheduled for 25 Sep 99, with the winner expected to deliver four systems in the first 12 months. For details, see this site's Requirements and Opportunities/Procurement section.

Femtometric's SAWCAD chemical agent detector is being integrated on an AeroVironment Pointer UAV for flight testing in Nevada starting in Mar 99. This effort responds to a 1997 Special Operations Command-Europe requirement and is being funded by US Special Operations Command in conjunction with the Central MASINT Technology Coordinating Office.

NASA/Goddard plans to begin flight testing Freewing's Tilt-Body UAV at Wallops Island, VA, in Mar 99.

Teledyne Ryan Aeronautical's Global Hawk is planning to fly twice a month in January, February, and March, 1999, to complete its portion of Phase II (Development Phase) of the High Altitude Endurance UAV ACTD. The six missions will consist of four to acquire imagery with its Integrated Sensor Suite (EO/IR and SAR) and two endurance flights of 18 and up to 38 hours. It will then begin its abbreviated Phase III (Demonstration Phase), participating in some eleven exercises in 9 months before the ACTD concludes on 31 Dec 99.

The Force Protection Demo, jointly sponsored by the Air Force's UAV and Force Protection Battle Labs, was replayed 12-26 Feb 99 at Ft Sumner, NM, with the BAI/USMC Dragon Drone and Schiebel Camcopter in the roles of the fixed wing and rotary wing UAVs, respectively. The original demo was partially conducted last July.

The RQ-3/DarkStar portion of the High Altitude Endurance UAV ACTD was formally cancelled by Dr. Gansler, Under Secretary of Defense (Acquisition & Technology) on 29 Jan 99. The third air vehicle had just been delivered the previous week.

The first RQ-4/Global Hawk air vehicle aborted 1.7 hours into its planned 18-hour endurance flight on 28 Jan 99 due to engine overheat and low oil pressure. The planned flight occurred on 27-28 Feb 99, reaching 66,354 feet on an 18.1 hour flight. A max endurance flight of 30+ hours is to be attempted by the end of April.

TRA's RQ-4/Global Hawk UAV returned its first images during its tenth flight at Edwards AFB, CA, on 22 Jan 99. The mission produced good radar imagery, useable EO images, but poor IR images. Raytheon (formerly Hughes) developed the Integrated Sensor System's EO/IR and SAR sensors.

Col Jon Ball assumed command of the Air Force UAV Battle Lab on 19 Jan 99, becoming its second commander. He succeeds Col Joseph Grasso. Lt Col Tom Toltzen bridged the 4 month period between Col Grasso's departure and Col Ball's arrival from Kelly AFB, TX.

In retrospect, 1999 will most likely be remembered as the Year of the Crashes. Probably no other year has had the number of UAV losses with such high visibility. NATO lost over two dozen UAVs over Kosovo while conducting Operation Allied Force, and, allowing the non-combat U.S. losses in this operation to be counted again, the US had a similar number of UAV mishaps this year. Despite this notoriety, perhaps even as a benefit from it, political support and military acceptance of UAVs was definitely stronger by year's end.

The year began with the not unexpected cancellation of the RQ-3 DarkStar effort, the low observable, penetrating half of the High Altitude Endurance UAV program. The announcement was made in January, less than 4 months after the Air Force had assumed responsibility for the DarkStar/Global Hawk program from DARPA, after nearly $300 million had been invested in it.

The following month, UAVs returned to the Persian Gulf theater for the first time since the 1990-91 Gulf War, when the Air Force deployed a RQ-1 Predator system to Kuwait to fly reconnaissance missions over Iraq as part of Operation Southern Watch, supporting U.N. sanctions. The year's string of losses began with the loss (non-hostile) of one of these Predators early during its deployment.

March was almost closed out accident-free, when the second-built Global Hawk crashed north of Edwards AFB, CA, the program's first loss in 13 months of test flights. Although the results of the accident investigation were not released until December, the cause was readily determined to have been a heedless transmission on the airborne aircraft's flight termination frequency, and flights resumed in May. The benefit, if such, of this unplanned "test," was the high fidelity match between the aircraft's terminal dive performance and impact point with those predicted 2 years earlier by Ryan's aerodynamicists.

The first week in April saw the arrival of US UAV units in Macedonia and Bosnia and their initial reconnaissance missions over Kosovo. First losses followed within the week. Over the course of the 3-month campaign, six military UAV types were brought into play, accumulating the following record:

UAV Type	Number Deployed	Sorties Flown	Hours Flown	Losses			Rate, losses/hr
				Combat		Total
RQ-1/ Predator (US)	8*	107	992	3		4	0.0040
RQ-2/ Pioneer (US)	5	16	80	3		4	0.0500
RQ-5/ Hunter (US)	18	246**	1357**	5		8	0.0059
CL-289 (GE)	16	170	85	1		4	0.0470
CL-289/Piver (FR)	16	(84)	(42)	2		4	0.0952
Crecerelle (FR)	6	43***	130****	3		3	0.0231
Phoenix (UK)	27	77	230****	2		2	0.0087

*Estimate based on maintaining a four aircraft system.
**Includes Hunter relay sorties flown to support Hunter collector sorties; all missions used relay.
***Number of sorties flown by 31 May; both losses occurred in May.
****Number of hours flown estimated on basis of 3 hrs per sortie.

NATO UAVs, including US Predators based in Hungary, had been flying ceasefire compliance monitoring missions over Kosovo since the previous October (98), taking a leading role in Operation Eagle Eye. Predators flew 410 hours during 72 missions that Fall before being relieved by German and French CL-289 UAV batteries and French Crecerelle units. The United Kingdom's new tactical UAV, Phoenix, which had only gone operational in December (98), flew its first combat sorties over Kosovo late in the campaign. On the last day of the campaign, a new role for UAVs, target designation for precision weapon delivery, made its NATO/US operational debut when a podded AN/AAS-44(V) laser designator, integrated into a Predator, illuminated a Serbian tank for an A-10, whose attack was thwarted by a combination of weather, tight rules of engagement, and the ceasefire curtain coming down (26 June). Several Hunters had a similar capability, but their teammates, the AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, never flew over Kosovo. Nevertheless, UAV involvement in the sensor-to-shooter chain inched upward as a prelude of their use in the next contingency.

The heavy play of UAVs over Kosovo during these three months demonstrated their ability to serve as the workhorses of reconnaissance, with at least one being airborne during half the 2088 hours of the campaign. Their heavy losses, contrary to being seen as a negative, reinforced their attribute of placing zeros in the pilot MIA/KIA column whenever they went down. Their observations scored some of the more notable intelligence successes of the conflict, and every participating UAV unit took away with them a wealth of cheaply-acquired lessons learned for future contingencies. When after action reports were compiled, UAVs were consistently listed as one of the, if not the, top performers, gaining a reputation which is already being converted into renewed political will. How long this newly minted currency stays viable remains to be seen.

If Kosovo was the major UAV event of the first half of the year, the long-awaited Army Tactical UAV fly-off was that of the latter half. During the 2 month period ending on 24 November, four vendors flew their products at Ft Huachuca, AZ, in a rigorous curriculum to demonstrate their systems' maturity. The original field of seven candidates had been narrowed by July to the final four, which were General Atomics ASI's Prowler II, AAI's Shadow 200, Alliant Technologies' Outrider (developed under the earlier TUAV ACTD), and TRW/S-Tec-Meggitt's Sentry. Four aircraft crashed, and a fifth was damaged during landing. When the winner was announced on 27 December, AAI and its Shadow 200 walked away with a $41.8 million LRIP contract for the first 4 systems (16 aircraft) with a multi-year follow-on potential of another $617 million.

To close out the Year of Crashes, Aurora's Perseus emerged relatively intact, as did travelers on Interstate 15, when it inadvertently dropped onto that highway in October near Barstow, CA, and Northrop Grumman Ryan's Global Hawk had a taxi mishap at Edwards AFB, CA, which crushed the program's second and last remaining EO/IR sensor in early December. Global Hawk was concluding a busy year demonstrating its military utility in a number of military exercises, the final exam portion of its 5-year-long ACTD. Its successes to date had included flights to 66,400 ft, an endurance of 27.2 hours, missions to Alaska from California, good quality imagery from all nine modes of its three sensors (EO, IR, and SAR/MTI), and compatibility with the new Common Imagery Processor (CIP). Its ACTD formally concludes in June 2000, but another EO/IR sensor will not be available until the following quarter.

Advances were made in several capabilities key to future UAV operations during the year. In March, the first UAV flight of the Tactical Common Data Link (TCDL) was performed onboard a Predator flying from El Mirage, CA. With a 10.71 Mbps data rate, TCDL offers an order of magnitude increase in digital data link capacity using a standard protocol set. Recovery, the phase of flight accounting for the most UAV damage, received boosts from two efforts. An outgrowth of the Contingency Automatic Recovery System (CARS) demonstrated its ability to autoland the Shadow 200, and The Insitu Group demonstrated consistent recoveries of an Aerosonde by flying it into a balloon-suspended wire, where it was snared, sliding down to an undamaged landing. The next new capability needed: Lightweight, beyond line-of-sight links for small UAVs capitalizing on the growing constellations of cellular communication satellites.

Overlooked in the publicity of the year's military UAV successes in Kosovo were advances made in applying UAVs to civil (non-defense government) and commercial markets. Of the 20 authorizations issued by the FAA to fly UAVs in US civil airspace (outside military ranges) during the year, five were for civil/commercial efforts. An example of the civil authorizations (three) was a demonstration to the US Border Patrol flown near Laredo, TX, in April-May by four different UAV types. The commercial authorizations (two) are illustrated by a June demonstration flown to survey power lines. In these efforts, the long term value of the precedence set with the FAA in expanding UAV flights into civil airspace probably equals or exceeds the value of the demonstration's substance.