{"id":15535,"date":"2021-03-03T22:48:37","date_gmt":"2021-03-03T22:48:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/03\/03\/us-armys-unmanned-aircraft-rodeo-firms-up-requirements-for-shadow-replacement\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T21:44:29","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T21:44:29","slug":"us-armys-unmanned-aircraft-rodeo-firms-up-requirements-for-shadow-replacement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2021\/03\/03\/us-armys-unmanned-aircraft-rodeo-firms-up-requirements-for-shadow-replacement\/","title":{"rendered":"US Army\u2019s unmanned aircraft rodeo firms up requirements for Shadow replacement"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 The U.S. Army is putting the finishing touches on its requirements for a replacement for its Shadow unmanned aircraft system<\/a> as it conducts a week-long rodeo with four tactical UAS<\/a> that offer far greater capability than the decades old, runway-dependent, noisy and logistically burdensome system used today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Future Tactical Unmanned Aircraft Systems (FTUAS) rodeo, which began March 1 at Fort Benning, Georgia and is expected to end March 5, is part of a long-running evaluation of future capabilities. <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Army selected four UAS in 2019 to help it evaluate requirements for a replacement for its Textron-manufactured Shadow UAS. Soldiers provided feedback on each system to help the Army chart its requirements but also the tactics, techniques and procedures it would need with a future system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The service selected two teams<\/a> in March 2019: a Martin UAV and Northrop Grumman team and Textron\u2019s AAI Corporation. Martin UAV supplied its V-Bat system<\/a> and Textron offered its Aerosonde HQ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But shortly after, the Army added two more aircraft for evaluation: the Arcturus-UAV Jump 20 system<\/a> and L3Harris\u2019 FVR-90.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brig. Gen. Wally Rugen, who oversees the Army\u2019s Future Vertical Lift modernization, told Defense News ahead of the rodeo that the service will take the information from the lengthy soldier assessments and the rodeo to the Army Requirements Oversight Council for a decision as early as the next quarter, which could mean in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A positive decision would mean the Army could move into a full-and-open competition to buy future tactical UAS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rugen said at the time that he was hopeful the Army would get a revolutionary, not evolutionary, new tactical UAS capability that isn\u2019t tied to a runway, that has a lower acoustic signature and that has far lower equipment requirements in order to transport the system organically within the unit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Operators of the systems at the rodeo told reporters March 2 that compared to Shadow, the systems offer drastically improved capability over the unmanned systems they have operated for years within Brigade Combat Teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They noted it takes roughly one third of the time to set up and fly the new systems across the board compared to Shadow, which requires a runway, trucks of equipment and a ground control station to function. Because set up is so quick and easy, it enables brigade combat teams to quickly jump from one location to another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvery day, we tear down everything, all of us tear down what we set up to fly and then put it back up in the morning,\u201d Specialist Anthony Karl, 1st Airborne Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, told the reporters. \u201cWe wouldn\u2019t be able to do that on Shadow. There\u2019s just no way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Operators were also impressed with the acoustic signature of the systems during forward flight and while the vertical takeoff-and-landing mode tended to produce a louder signature, the noise was still significantly reduced compared to the noise coming from a Shadow in the air, which has been equated to a flying lawn mower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Army aviation leadership also noted improvements in the transportability of the systems and how quickly they could be deployed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll of them achieved vertical takeoff and a transition to forward flight and immediately put their payloads into operation that we got to observe and demonstrate. All of them, likewise, successfully brought them back and vertically recovered those systems without any degradation,\u201d Maj. Gen. David Francis, the commanding general of the Army\u2019s Aviation Center of Excellence at Fort Rucker, Alabama, said during the same media event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because it was rainy and roughly 50 degrees, the Shadow would have been grounded in those conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each system was also able to demonstrate automated takeoffs and landings, which is critical to offloading the operator\u2019s cognitive burden so they are free to carry out other crucial aspects of a mission, Rugen told reporters. And operations only required a two to three person crew with significantly less equipment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each system was also able to be used on the move, which exceeded leaders\u2019 expectations. \u201cWe didn\u2019t think we would be able to operate on the move, but all five BCTs, all four form factors, operated on the move, by which the aircraft was in flight and they were driving an FMTV or a Humvee,\u201d Rugen said. \u201cA lot of innovation by giving this to soldiers and having soldiers work it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soldiers were actually told during at least two Combat Training Center rotations that they were \u201ctoo far forward and too agile\u201d and were asked to \u201ckind of fall back to keep the exercise in the parameters,\u201d Rugen said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, some of the systems were able to show that not only could they be transported by a CH-47 Chinook cargo helicopter, which is a baseline requirement for a future system, but in the smaller airframe of the UH-60 Black Hawk utility helicopter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Martin UAV demonstrated the V-BAT’s capability to be transported via a UH-60 Black Hawk at the Future Tactical Unmanned Aircraft Systems rodeo held to assist the Army in firming up its requirements for a Shadow UAS replacement competition. (Photo courtesy of Martin UAV)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Textron said during a briefing with reporters last week that its Aerosonde HQ can be transported in a UH-60. And Martin UAV demonstrated the Black Hawk transportability of V-Bat at the rodeo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rugen said it was likely the Army would stick to the requirement to transport FTUAS in a Chinook, but that vendors showed flexibility with transporting the systems. \u201cWe\u2019ll see because they\u2019re working the requirement document, finalizing all of it right now. We\u2019ll see if the bar gets raised, but to me, I think it\u2019s fine where it\u2019s at right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In terms of powering the systems, the Army has an objective requirement that the UAS run on JP-8 fuel. Currently, not all of the systems use the fuel type. Aerosonde HQ is powered by the heavy fuel and V-Bat has a near-term path for a heavy fuel capability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cObviously there\u2019s room in there for nuance,\u201d Rugen said. \u201cLooking at the entire offering, could we come off that? You know, it\u2019s possible, but we certainly prefer the JP-8 solution and that\u2019s why currently it\u2019s an objective requirement in our draft at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Army also saw a leap in payload improvement in terms of both the quality of the sensors on board but also the capacity to carry payloads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, the original V-Bat featured the ability to carry an 8 lb. payload, but since then, at the Army Expeditionary Warfighting Experiment, the V-Bat 128 has been able to demonstrate a 25 lb. payload capacity not including fuel, according to a company statement released at the end of February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe saw the soldiers uniformly fall in love with this capability and want to keep it in,\u201d Rugen said, \u201cbecause, again it was such a transformational capability.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Army aviation leadership said soldiers don’t want to give up any of the possible solutions that could replace Shadow after evaluating them over the course of a year. But when the competition starts, which systems might win out?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":35803,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":70,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[100,23,92,12,25,70],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3350],"class_list":["post-15535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-home","category-left-column","category-news","category-newsletters","category-your-army"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"GWU56BUZSFF4FLBUBSHKMSMOF4","arc_canonical_url":"\/land\/2021\/03\/03\/us-armys-unmanned-aircraft-rodeo-firms-up-requirements-for-shadow-replacement\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\nUS Army\u2019s unmanned aircraft rodeo firms up requirements for Shadow replacement - Army Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Army aviation leadership said soldiers don't want to give up any of the possible solutions that could replace Shadow after evaluating them over the course of a year. 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