Lockheed Martin is publicly stepping back into the drone market with plans for a fast, stealthy unmanned aerial vehicle. The concept aircraft, which the defense megalith quietly debuted at an Air Force convention this week, was spotted by *Flight'*s Steve Trimble, who snapped a picture of the concept art on display.
Though Lockheed displayed a basic concept for the drone, it seems the company isn't quite ready to go public with details of its version of the MQ-X, the Air Force's new drone requirement. "No subject matter experts were immediately available to comment on this particular design for the MQ-X requirement," Trimble writes.
Unlike when the Air Force went from Predator to Reaper UAVs, both of which are built by General Atomics Aeronautical systems, this time around the follow-on aircraft will be open to new bidders. The competition to build the MX-Q isn't unexpected to get under way in earnest until 2010, when the Air force begins a study to look at the possible options for such an aircraft. But already, Air Force officials have said the idea for the drone has changed — rather than a simple upgrade to the Predator/Reaper, they'd like to see an entirely new aircraft with at least some stealth and much faster speeds.
Multiple companies are expected to compete for the chance to build these new drones. There's the incumbent company, General Atomics, which is offering the Predator C. Raytheon has also expressed interest in bidding, and Boeing and Northrop Grumman, which squared off for combat drones in the past, will most certainly take part in the competition.
Where does Lockheed fit in? At least on the surface, Lockheed has been out of the drone business since it's stealthy Polecat UAVcrashed on a test flight in 2006, though company officials are often touchy about the entire subject. In fact, there have been rumors for years that Lockheed has been working on classified drones, a belief that was partially confirmed when the company unveiled the Polecat.
After announcing the Polecat crash, Lockheed never mentioned the aircraft again. That's led to some speculation that Polecat, which started off as a black program, may have simply gone dark again.
[Photo: Steve Trimble, The DEW Line]
