After years of industry pushback US Marine Corps concedes MUX too complex
The US Marine Corps’ (USMC) ambitious plan to create a vertical-take-off-and-landing (VTOL) unmanned air vehicle (UAV) that could carry out a long list of missions has been halted after years of warnings from US aerospace manufacturers that the envisioned aircraft would be expensive and require a lengthy development period.
The USMC has conceded its initial plan was too difficult. It now is working to redefine and break up the MUX mission across a “family” of UAVs.
MUX stands for Marine Air/Ground Task Force, Unmanned Aerial System, Expeditionary aircraft.
The service wanted a VTOL aircraft that could provide its amphibious assault ships with a flying package of sensors to provide early warning, electronic warfare, command, control, communications, computers, and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities. The UAV was also to be a long-range strike and cargo transport with capabilities similar to the Bell Boeing MV-22 and Lockheed Martin F-35. That meant a range of more than 690nm (1,280km/h) and a flight endurance of more than 24h.
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Because amphibious assault ships can carry the F-35, the US Navy (USN) is exploring ways to use the smaller ships as strike platforms. The USMC has experimented with a “Lightning Carrier” concept where it packs America-class amphibious assault ships with more than a dozen F-35Bs. America-class ships do not have well decks with stored amphibious landing craft, but instead save space for aircraft that are to be used for aerial assaults, such as the Bell Boeing MV-22B Osprey tiltrotor.
The USN is testing the idea that, compared to bigger, nuclear-power aircraft carriers, smaller amphibious assault ships with a contingent of stealth fighters could be deployed in larger numbers on difficult-to-predict tours, tying up an adversary’s defencive forces. There are unanswered questions of how cost-effective a force of smaller aircraft carriers would be and the USN is still evaluating the concept, however.
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