Hamilton Sundstrand small engines play powerful role in pioneering UAV programs
PARIS, France- Europe, Jun 15, 2003
Hamilton Sundstrand will play a critical role in revolutionizing military small weapons systems and unmanned aerial vehicles.
According to Tom Ledgerwood, defense programs manager for Hamilton Sundstrand Power Systems, the company successfully fielded several ground-breaking turbojets or small engines for prime customers’ unmanned air vehicles within the past year.
“Our expertise, the successful miniaturization of high-performance gas turbine engines, along with advances in mission and navigation avionics by others, will revolutionize military small weapons systems and reduce the cost of some missiles by an order of magnitude,” Ledgerwood said. “Hamilton Sundstrand propulsion products can dramatically change the capability of tactical missiles, improving their range by about 10 times compared with small rockets now used in the United States.”
The company’s most recent small engine success was in the Raytheon MALD (Miniature Air-Launched Decoy) program. In May, the U.S. Air Force awarded Raytheon an $88 million contract to develop and demonstrate the MALD. The MALD is intended as a low-cost, expendable, air-launched vehicle that can present the radar signature and operational flight profile characteristics of combat aircraft with sufficient fidelity to stimulate, deceive, and decoy threat enemy air defense systems.
A 17-pound Hamilton Sundstrand engine named the TJ-120 will generate 120 pounds of thrust and has already successfully demonstrated ground and flight tests. The Hamilton Sundstrand engine will allow the MALD to fly at a top speed of Mach 0.93 at 40,000 feet, Ledgerwood said.
In 2002, Hamilton Sundstrand turbojets models TJ-30, TJ-50 and TJ-50M were part of six successful flight tests of unmanned air vehicles. In April of this year, its TJ-50-12 engine successfully powered Lockheed Martin’s Low Cost Autonomous Attack System (LOCAAS), equipped with a multi-mode warhead, at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. LOCAAS is a next-generation autonomous munition that uses Automatic Target Acquisition (ATA) algorithms and is guided by a Laser Detection and Ranging (LADAR) seeker that is capable of defeating advanced mobile targets.
LOCAAS has the ability to loiter over the battlefield and take out high-priority targets early in a conflict when the risk to manned aircraft is high. LOCAAS represents a next-step capability for the U.S. Air Force, following other successful Lockheed Martin Strike Weapons programs such as the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) and the combat-proven Wind Corrected Munitions Dispenser (WCMD).
Hamilton Sundstrand, a subsidiary of United Technologies Corporation (NYSE: UTX), is headquartered in Windsor Locks, Conn., and employs about 16,500 worldwide. Among the world’s largest suppliers of technologically advanced aerospace and industrial products, the company designs, manufactures and services aerospace systems and provides integrated systems solutions for commercial, regional, corporate and military aircraft. It is also a major supplier for international space programs.
Contact:
Peg Hashem
860-654-3469
peg.hashem@hs.utc.com
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