On April 19, 2010, the US Navy announced a "request for information" - a proposal to the aviation industry to take part in the program for the creation of an unmanned carrier-based reconnaissance and strike system UCLASS (Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike system). It is assumed that the experimental system will include four to six UAVs capable of flying for 11-14 hours without refueling in the air. In this case, the target load of the vehicles will consist of reconnaissance and sighting sensors and aircraft weapons. It is required that UAVs have the ability to use weapons autonomously, but the operator must still authorize the first strike on the target.
It is planned that the UCLASS system in a pre-production configuration will be ready for experimental deployment on board an aircraft carrier, approximately by the end of 2018. Its appearance will give the American aviation group additional capabilities to combat ground (surface) targets at long range.
The relatively rapid implementation of the UCLASS program should be facilitated by the availability in the United States of already proven technology created within the framework of experimental and demonstration programs implemented by the Navy over the past 10 years. The requirements of the Navy are largely based on the characteristics of the Northrop Grumman X-47B carrier-based combat UAV, created as part of the UCAS-D demonstration program. The X-47V device, when operated from the flight deck, has a target load of 2040 kg, while its practical range is 3880 km, which is slightly less than the requirements for UCLASS.
In addition to Northrop Grumman, which offers further development of the X-47V UAV, the request was addressed to Boeing, which built the Phantom Ray unmanned deck vehicle technology demonstrator, and General Atomics, which has the Avenger UAV project.
