Raytheon has provided the Air Force an unsolicited proposal for a new advanced common ground control system for the Predator unmanned aerial vehicle that it believes will speed training, decrease operator error, and enable multiple aircraft control, according to a Sept. 16 company release. The company has worked with combat-tested UAV operators and trainers for two years to develop a CGCS that will “dramatically improve” the operation of UAVs, said Mark Bigham, Raytheon’s business development director for intelligence and information systems. He said the company’s CGCS “will help the current Predator contractor [General Atomics Aeronautical Systems] maximize the number of unmanned aircraft systems operators can fly, ultimately helping to meet Secretary of Defense [Robert] Gates’ goal of ‘more ISR now.’ “According to the release, the system is compatible with improved Predator operations centers being fielded with the Air National Guard now.
While U.S. defense officials have spent much of the past decade warning that China is the nation’s pacing threat and its People’s Liberation Army represents an urgent threat in the Indo-Pacific, several defense researchers are skeptical that the PLA has the human capital, the structural ability, or the political appetite…