Skunk works shakes up major projects

JDW

Skunk Works shakes up major projects

By Nick Cook Jane’s Aerospace Consultant
Palmdale, California

As a result of a continuing shake-up of US government-funded research and development (R&D) programmes, the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works has had to suspend development of its submarine-launched and recovered Multi-Purpose Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (MPUAV), but is forging ahead with five major unclassified R&D initiatives, details of which have been provided to Jane’s.

The five major projects that are set to continue to attract R&D sums at the Skunk Works’ facility in Palmdale, California, are: a ship-launched UAV, the VTOL Advanced Reconnaissance Insertion Organic Unmanned Systems (VARIOUS); an airship adapted for near-space surveillance operations called Integrated Sensor Is Structure (ISIS); a Mach 10-capable stratospheric strike/reconnaissance aircraft known as FALCON – for Force Application and Launch from Continental US; the Hybrid Aircraft, part lifting body, part airship; and the Revolutionary Approach To Time-critical Long Range Strike (RATTLRS), a quasi-hypersonic missile.