Unmanned Aerial System

The Unmanned Aerial System is a part of the Navy's Research, Development, Test & Evaluation budget activity. The specific goal of this program is to address Tier 1 capability gaps identified in the MUX ICD and MUX Requirements Clarification document. It aims to develop and integrate mission system payloads supporting medium altitude long endurance concept within the Marine Air Ground Task Force (MAGTF) Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Expeditionary (MUX) Family of Systems (FoS). The program will provide Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) in support of Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations (EABO), Littoral Operations in Contested Environments (LOCE), and Distributed Maritime Operations (DMO) for the MAGTF and Marine Littoral Regiment.

Furthermore, the program will award contracts for initial MQ-9A mission capabilities design, development, and integration with payloads supporting Tier 1 mission capabilities. These capabilities include Common Operating and Intelligence Picture (COP/CIP) development and integration, Detect And Avoid System (DAAS), Airborne Network Extension (ANE) / SkyTower II, Electronic Warfare (EW), Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA), and Proliferated Low Earth Orbit (PLEO). The program also involves support from UX-24 as the primary test activity/squadron for capability development as well as system modification validation efforts. The testing associated with payloads/sensors may require or drive hardware and software modifications to satisfy system, subsystem, and component level test parameters.