AUSA 2011: Army not planning to weaponise Shadow fleet

October 12, 2011 Beth Stevenson, SHEPARD GROUP

Washington DC - The US Army UAS project office has reaffirmed that it is not planning on weaponising its Shadow fleet, despite concentrating efforts into doing just that for the USMC's platforms.

'The army's position right now is that it has no intention to weaponise the Shadow,' LTC Scott Anderson, Product Manager for Ground Maneuver Office, told reporters at the AUSA conference in Washington, DC on 11 October. 'It's a conversation that's been had for a long time.'

'The Marine Corps will choose their weapon and we'll integrate it,' he continued, hinting that this effort will manifest over the next few months.

'We don't need munitions [on the army's Shadows] because we have other means to prosecute the target,' said Col Rob Sova, TRADOC System Manager for UAS

He pointed out that there are many other platforms in the system with this capability, but not so many that can provide persistent surveillance like the Shadow can.

As far as leading the way in UAS operation is concerned, Tim Owings, Deputy Project Manager UAS said that the US Navy is following 'word for word' what the army is doing, and the lead of the army in this area is why only its systems were used in the Manned Unmanned System Integration Capability (MUSIC) exercise in September.

'MUSIC in some people's minds was just a demo,' Sova continued, although he emphasised that it was an 'inexpensive but still effective' way to look at and explore the US UAS roadmap. 'When you team manned with unmanned you get a better capability.'

Sova pointed out that 'the force wants a toolkit for smalls [small UAS]', and it needs to extend past the Raven.

'We really need something small for the team; a micro system. It's going to happen, it's just a matter of time and money.'