U.S. Military UAV tier system
Encyclopedia
The modern concept of United States Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...

 UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) is to have the various aircraft systems work together in support of personnel on the ground. The integration scheme is described in terms of a "Tier" system, and is used by military planners to designate the various individual aircraft elements in an overall usage plan for integrated operations. The Tiers do not refer to specific models of aircraft, but rather roles the aircraft must fill. Periodically the models that fill each role become outdated. The roles are also periodically expanded to encompass more functionality. In these cases, several different aircraft designers such as Boeing
Boeing
The Boeing Company is an American multinational aerospace and defense corporation, founded in 1916 by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing Corporate headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois since 2001...

 and Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin is an American global aerospace, defense, security, and advanced technology company with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, in the Washington Metropolitan Area....

 write design proposals. These proposals are compared, and the best design is then put into production as the next aircraft to fill the given role. The U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Marine Corps each has its own tier system, and the two systems are themselves not integrated.

US Air Force tiers

  • Tier N/A: Small/Micro UAV. Role filled by BATMAV (Wasp Block III). http://www.fbo.gov/servlet/Documents/R/1610757
  • Tier I: Low altitude, long endurance. Role filled by the Gnat 750
    GNAT-750
    -References:This article contains material that originally came from the web article by Greg Goebel, which exists in the Public Domain.-External links:* at the FAS* http://www.designation-systems.net/dusrm/app4/gnat.html...

    .
  • Tier II: Medium altitude, long endurance (MALE). Role currently filled by the MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper
    MQ-9 Reaper
    The General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper is an unmanned aerial vehicle , capable of remote controlled or autonomous flight operations, developed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems for use by the United States Air Force, the United States Navy, the CIA, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Royal...

    .
  • Tier II+: High altitude, long endurance conventional UAV (or HALE UAV). Altitude: 60,000 to 65000 feet (19,812 m), less than 300 knots (588 km/h) airspeed, 3000 nautical miles (5,556 km) radius, 24 hour time-on-station capability. Complementary to the Tier III- aircraft. Role currently filled by the RQ-4 Global Hawk
    RQ-4 Global Hawk
    The Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk is an unmanned aerial vehicle used by the United States Air Force and Navy as a surveillance aircraft....

    .
  • Tier III-: High altitude, long endurance low-observable UAV. Same parameters as, and complementary to, the Tier II+ aircraft. The RQ-3 DarkStar
    RQ-3 Dark Star
    -See also:- Footnotes :ReferencesSources* Specifications and second and third paragraphs: Display information on exhibit at Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington, US.- External links :* *...

     was originally intended to fulfill this role before it was "terminated."

US Marine Corp tiers

  • Tier N/A: Micro UAV. Wasp is targeted for this role, now more so given commonality with USAF BATMAV. https://www.mcwl.usmc.mil/mcp/Initiatives/Technology%20Investigation/41-MCP-%20WASP%2010%20Jul%2006.pdf
  • Tier I: Role currently filled by the Dragon Eye
    Dragon Eye
    The Dragon Eye Unmanned Aerial Vehicle is a small reconnaissance UAV developed by the Naval Research Laboratory and the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory for use by the U.S. Marine Corps....

     but transitioning to the RQ-11B Raven B.
  • Tier II: Role currently filled by the Scan Eagle and, to some extent, the RQ-2 Pioneer
    RQ-2 Pioneer
    -External links:*...

    .
  • Tier III: Role currently filled by the Pioneer, although USMC planners do not view this aircraft as meeting future Tier III requirements.

US Army tiers

  • Tier I: Small UAV. Role filled by the RQ-11A/B Raven.
  • Tier II: Short Range Tactical UAV. Role filled by the RQ-7A/B Shadow 200
    RQ-7 Shadow
    The RQ-7 Shadow unmanned aerial vehicle is used by the United States Army and Marine Corps. Launched from a trailer-mounted pneumatic catapult, it is recovered with the aid of arresting gear similar to jets on an aircraft carrier...

    .
  • Tier III: Medium Range Tactical UAV. Role currently filled by the RQ-5A / MQ-5A/B Hunter and i-Gnat, but transitioning to the Extended Range Multi-Purpose (ERMP) MQ-1C Warrior
    MQ-1C Warrior
    |-See also:-External links:* * * * *...

    .

Future Combat Systems
Future Combat Systems
Future Combat Systems was the United States Army's principal modernization program from 2003 to early 2009. Formally launched in 2003, FCS was envisioned to create new brigades equipped with new manned and unmanned vehicles linked by an unprecedented fast and flexible battlefield network...

 (FCS) (US Army) classes

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