The year began with a political boost for the unmanned systems industry in February when Sen John Warner (R-VA), Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, publicly stated his desire to see one third of our military strike aircraft be comprised of unmanned aircraft by 2010. Although he admitted this was an unrealistic expectation, he fully endorsed sending such a signal of support to encourage the Services to pursue unmanned combat aircraft more aggressively as a means to save pilots’ lives in future conflicts. This vote of confidence followed a directive from Secretary of Defense Cohen in July 99 endorsing more aggressive UAV activities and a highly favorable impression made by UAVs during the Kosovo conflict in April through June 99.
     The Navy surprised the industry on 9 February, first by awarding the development contract for its VTOL Tactical UAV (VTUAV) to a contractor who had not participated in its previous 2 years of VTOL technology evaluations and second by announcing the award a month earlier than planned. Northrop Grumman’s Fire Scout, based on the proven, in production Schweitzer manned helicopter was the conservative, surprise choice. By starting with a mature design and proven VTOL concept, the Navy and the contractor could focus on integration issues rather than developmental ones. Twenty three systems, of three aircraft each, are planned to be bought, with the first system going to the Marines in 2003. The first prototype (P-1) crashed in November after 13 months of flight tests. Testing continued with a manned version.
     Global Hawk performed a round-trip trans-Atlantic flight from Eglin AFB, FL, to Portugal and back in May as the capstone to the Military Utility Assessment (MUA) of its ACTD, which formally concluded on 30 June. Subsequently, the ACTD sponsor, USJFCOM, concluded that its operational effectiveness and suitability ratd a passing score and recommended the system for production. The Air Force formally began its EMD phase the following February by approving its Milestone II decision.
     The first of a series of joint Service/DARPA unmanned combar aerial vehicle (UCAV) demonstrators, the Air Force/DARPA/Boeing X-45, was formally displayed to the public in St Louis in September. The Navy and DARPA awarded funds to both Boeing and Northrop Grumman to build carrier-capable UCAV demonstrators. First flights for all were expected before the end of 2002.