WASHINGTON Lockheed Martin Corp. has designed ways to convert
its new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter into a combat drone as part of a
broad push into robot technologies, company officials said
Tuesday.
Lockheed hopes to become as famous for its drones as Northrop
Grumman Corp. and privately held General Atomics Aeronautical
Systems Inc., the companies behind the well-known Global Hawk and
Predator unmanned aerial vehicles. At a Washington press briefing,
Lockheed executives regaled reporters with the company's range of
related research.
"We're in the business and we probably have been less aggressive
than we should have been," said Richard O'Lear, vice president for
unmanned aerial systems.
In recent years, Lockheed has devoted 30 percent to 40 percent of
its aeronautics investment to unmanned systems, said Frank Mauro,
Lockheed vice president for advanced systems development. He said
the company now is making up for its previous single-minded focus
on the F-35 program, a $276 billion initiative to replace thousands
of aging fighters around the world.
The sensors developed for the Joint Strike Fighter have a range of
potential drone applications, he said. Also, the company's Skunk
Works unit has been working over the past two years to design an
F-35 that doesn't need a pilot.
This work isn't part of Lockheed's fighter development contract,
Mauro said, but the company now has a blueprint in case the
Pentagon comes calling.
Lockheed expects an unmanned F-35 would cost roughly the same as a
standard plane with a pilot, he said.
The company has envisioned that two piloted fighters could be
accompanied by four unmanned fighters without the full suite of
high-tech sensors.
"Those are basically external bomb carriers," Mauro said.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/4119143.html
