Mega-Drone with Combat Aircraft Capabilities?

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The US Marine Corps is in the looking to obtain a mega-drone that can take off and land vertically and deploy aboard ship — all while carrying a serious amount of firepower, the same as on F-35.

The MUX platform, short for Marine air-ground task force unmanned expeditionary capabilities, is planned to reach initial operational capability by 2024.

The Corps’ deputy commandant for aviation, Lt. Gen. Jon “Dog” Davis, said that this future platform — a Group 5, the largest class of military drone — will be equipped to fight from sea as well as land.

This future drone will not be a competitor with the Corps’ new F-35B Lightning II 5th-generation fighter but a collaborator, able to team with the aircraft on missions, he said.

In the Corps’ 2016 aviation plan, the MUX is described as filling an extremely broad range of missions, including electronic warfare; reconnaissance and surveillance; command, control, communications and computers [C4]; aircraft escort; persistent fires; early warning; and tactical distribution.

“It will be a multi-sensor, electronic warfare, C4 bridge, [anti-air warfare] and strike capability at ranges complementary to MV-22 and F-35, giving MAGTF commanders flexible, persistent, and lethal reach,” a document about the drone states. “It will provide scalable MAGTF support deploying as detachments or squadrons supporting commanders at the tactical, operational, and strategic levels.”

According to dodbuzz.com, prominent candidates for such a role include the Bell-Textron V-247, K-Max and the Tactically Exploited Reconnaissance Node, or Tern, an aircraft developed by DARPA and the Office of Naval Research.

Davis said he wants the Marines’ Group 5 UAS to be able to fly at 30,000 feet, the typical cruising altitude for an airliner, and to carry weapons internally to maximize efficiency and time on station. Ultimately, he said, he wants an unmanned aircraft that can do everything a manned aircraft can. Davis does not think the mega drone will replace manned platforms, but rather integrate with them. “Frankly, no matter how many airplanes I have, I don’t get 24/7 coverage with my manned platforms, especially from my seabase. If we do distributed operations, we’re going to need all the game we can bring.”