Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle

The Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV) is the name of a new class of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) that have been designed from the outset to carry out strike missions in combat.

Current UCAV concepts call for an aircraft which would be able to operate virtually autonomously, as it will be pre-programmed with the mission details, such as route and target, and then be able to conduct the entire mission without any interference from human controllers on the ground. For various reasons however, all current designs incorporate a "man-in-the-loop" system, whereby the ground controller has to authorise weapons release.

Current UCAV concepts include:

J-UCAS - A joint DARPA/USAF/USN program incoporating two designs:
- Boeing X-45
- Northrop-Grumman X-47 Pegasus
Dassault Neuron
Saab SHARC
Saab Filur
EADS UCAV
Kentron UCAV-TD

Note: Some of the above-mentioned are not actual aircraft prototypes but rather technology demonstrators, and therefore not expected to enter service.

The J-UCAS UCAV, once operational, would employ stealth technologies and carry precision-guided weapons such as the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) or precision miniature munitions, such as the Small Diameter Bomb to suppress enemy air defenses.

Controllers could use real-time data sources from the satellites to plan for and respond to a dynamically changing battlefield.

It's expected that the U.S. Air Force will start fielding UCAVs by 2010.

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