Four shortlisted for UK maritime UAS requirement

The UK Ministry of Defence has shortlisted Boeing Defence, Cassidian, Lockheed Martin UK Integrated Systems, and QinetiQ to bid for the provision of a contractor-owned, contractor-operated (COCO) maritime unmanned air system (UAS) to meet an urgent operational requirement (UOR) for organic intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) support.

Responses to an invitation to tender (ITT) released in mid-November are due to be returned to the Defence Equipment and Support Organisation's UAS project team on 18 December. A contract award is scheduled for early February 2013.

The COCO Maritime UAS programme calls for the delivery of a commercial off-the shelf (COTS) solution to run up until the end of May 2015. Based on a Royal Fleet Auxiliary platform, and subsequently from a Royal Navy Type 23 frigate, the system is required to operate alongside an existing aviation detachment.

Due to the UOR's timescale, the UAS project team has specified a COTS solution that will meet Military Aviation Authority regulations.

Top-level requirements framed in the ITT call for the COCO service to provide, initially, a single task line of 300 hours per month of ISR coverage from a maritime platform, increasing to two task lines approximately six months after Initial Operational Capability.