USAF / DARPA FALCON Program

Air-Attack.com > Space > USAF / DARPA FALCON Program

Quick links:
{ Phase I - Phase II - Phase III }

Shortcuts explained

- DARPA - Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
- FALCON - Force Application and Launch from CONtinental United States.
- CONUS - Continental United States
- CONOPS - Concept of Operations
- SLV - Small Launch Vehicle
- HCV - Hypersonic Cruise Vehicle
- HWS - Hypersonic Weapon System
- CAV - Common Aero Vehicle
- ECAV - Enhanced Common Aero Vehicle

Nov 2003, DARPA and the USAF have just released contracts to start development for their FALCON program, which is an acronym for Force Application and Launch from CONtinental United States.
It is to be developed in two parts with the SLV expected to be complete by 2010 and a HCV expected by 2025. Nine contractors were selected to perform a phase one level systems definition for the SLV.

The goal of the joint DARPA/Air Force Program is to develop and validate in flight technologies that will enable both near term and far term capability to demonstrate affordable and responsive space lift capabilities.
The SLV will be designed to place small satellites into a Sun Synchronous Orbit with a payload ranging from 200 Lbs up to 1000 Lbs at a 450 mile orbit at a 79 degree inclination.
In addition, a total launch cost of less than 5 million dollars or less is desired. Existing launch systems are costly and in limited supply so the solicitation specifically requested innovative technologies to reduce launch cost and improve launch responsiveness.
Emphasis will be on incremental flight-testing using a building block approach.

USAF wants to build the means to attack any target on the globe within 12 hours of an order to do so. That requirement stems from an April 2003 Air Staff study titled 'Long-Range Global Precision Engagement.' In it, the Air Force, working with the Joint Staff and Office of the Secretary of Defense, put strike capabilities into three categories: prompt global strike, prompt theater strike, and persistent area strike.

USAF believes the products of Falcon will fulfill, to a great degree, the prompt global strike element. The ability to conduct prompt global strike would dissuade or deter enemies because they would know that the US could 'hold at risk or strike high-value targets anytime and anywhere on the globe,' said the study. Such a technology would also eliminate the need for intratheater buildup before conducting a strike.

.::: Phase I - System Definition ( 3rd Quarter 2003 - 2nd Quarter 2004) :::.

Task I - (SLV*)

FALCON Phase I, Task 1 (SLV) contractors will receive between $350,000 and $540,000 each for their Phase I effort.
Task 1 contractors are listed below.

Air Launch LLC, Reno Nevada
Andrews Space Inc., Seattle Washington
Exquadrum Inc., Victorville California
KT Engineering, Huntsville Alabama
Lockheed Martin Corp., New Orleans Louisiana
Microcosm Inc., El Segundo California
Orbital Sciences Corp., Dulles Virginia
Schafer Corp., Chelmsford Massachusetts
Space Exploration Technologies, El Segundo California

In FALCON Phase I Task 1 (SLV), contractors will develop conceptual designs, performance predictions, cost objectives, and development and demonstration plans for the SLV*. The SLV will provide a low-cost, responsive launch capability capable of placing a small satellite or other payload weighing approximately 1,000 pounds into a low Earth orbit at a total launch cost of less than $5,000,000 (excluding payload and payload integration costs).

Task II - (HWS*)

FALCON Phase I, Task 2 (HWS), contractors will receive between $1,200,000 and $1,500,000 each for their Phase I effort.
Task 2 contractors are listed below.

Andrews Space Inc., Seattle, Wash.
Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Palmdale, Calif.
Northrop Grumman Corp., Air Combat Systems, El Segundo, Calif.

In FALCON Phase I Task 2 (HWS), contractors will develop conceptual designs, concepts of operations, and a demonstration plan and identify critical technologies for the Hypersonic Weapon Systems portion of the program, which includes the CAV*, the ECAV*, and the Hypersonic Cruise Vehicle.
The Common Aero Vehicle will be an unpowered, maneuverable, hypersonic glide vehicle capable of carrying approximately 1,000 pounds of munitions, with a range of approximately 3,000 nautical miles.
The Enhanced Common Aero Vehicle would be a more advanced design that offered substantially greater range and improved maneuverability.
The reusable Hypersonic Cruise Vehicle will be an autonomous aircraft capable of taking off from a conventional military runway and striking targets 9,000 nautical miles distant in less than two hours.

.::: Phase II - Design & Develop (2nd Quarter 2004 - 3rd Quarter 2007) :::. Back to the top

Task I - (SLV)

In FALCON Phase II, the Task 1, SLV, objective is to demonstrate and flight-test all significant characteristics of the operational launch vehicle.
One or more SLV agreements/contracts will be extended into Phase II as the result of a competitive down-select among Phase I participants.
Phase II will develop an SLV design in parallel with CAV development. Coordination and information exchange between SLV and HWS contractors will take place during Phase II to integrate the physical and functional characteristics of the SLV and Enhanced CAV.
Deliverables will include refinement of CONOPS* for each SLV approach, a detailed flight demonstration plan of each booster system, and flight-test of a single low-cost booster design.

Task II - (HWS)

In FALCON Phase II, the Task 2, HWS, objective is to flight-test a CAV and develop critical designs for Enhanced CAV and HCV* demonstration systems incorporating flight-ready hypersonic technologies.
Up to two HWS agreements/contracts will be extended to Phase II as the result of a competitive downselect among Phase I participants.
Phase II will execute an integrated plan to evolve both CAV and HCV designs and mature associated critical technologies.
This task will mature key enabling technologies applicable to both the Enhanced CAV and the reusable HCV design.
Extensive analytical and experimental effort will be conducted to bring a suite of these technologies to flight-readiness (TRL = 6). The HCV design will be evolved further and performance predictions made based on the revised design.
The CAV, Enhanced CAV, and HCV demonstrator preliminary and critical designs will be developed and risk mitigation plans enforced for all flight experiments planned.
Coordination and information exchange between SLV and HWS contractors will take place during Phase II to integrate the physical and functional characteristics of the SLV and Enhanced CAV in preparation for an integrated SLV/Enhanced CAV flight test in Phase III.

The government's decision to progress from Phase II to Phase III will, in part, be based on the delivered Phase II products which best address the below combination of information or events to meet the stated objectives:

Successful flight demonstration of an affordable, responsive booster SLV.
Successful 3,000 nautical mile, 800-second flight-test of the CAV demonstration system with a simulated unitary penetrator payload.
An Enhanced CAV critical design that will demonstrate a 9,000 nautical mile, 3000 second mission capability.
A HCV demonstrator critical design that incorporates at least three hypersonic technologies identified in Phase I; these three technologies will be developed to at least TRL = 6.

.::: Phase III - Weapon System Demonstrations (3rd Quarter 2007 - 2009) :::. Back to the top

Phase III will consist of a single task identified as Weapon System Demonstrations.
The objective is to flight-test an integrated SLV/Enhanced CAV system, and flight-test Enhanced CAV and HCV demonstrators to validate system and technology performance.
Phase III will be performed over a 30-month period during which the Enhanced CAV will be flown integrated with the SLV.
The CAV payload flown in the integrated CAV/SLV flight demonstration may be scaled relative to an operational CAV commensurate with the capabilities of the SLV flight demonstration system.
The balance of the Phase III effort will focus on demonstration of reusable technologies that are considered key to enabling future development of a hypersonic cruise vehicle.
Many of these same reusable technologies are expected to benefit Enhanced CAV designs as well. Key technologies will be integrated into an HCV demonstrator and flight-tested using a similar test approach taken in demonstrating the CAV.
Powered as well as unpowered versions of the HCV demonstrator may be tested to permit technology validation for longer duration flights and assessment of the implications of integrating propulsion systems with the vehicle design.