design goals and top level requirements

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Running head: DESIGN GOALS AND TOP-LEVEL REQUIREMENTS

DESIGN GOALS AND TOP-LEVEL REQUIREMENTS 2

Design goals and top-level requirements

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Design goals and top-level requirements

The Gray Eagle is an armed and unmanned aerial system. The aircraft is a multipurpose platform that offers aptitudes such as surveillance, reconnaissance, capabilities, electronic warfare, and communications relay and target acquisitions. The general Gray Eagle is an upgraded MQ-1 predator, which consists of an extended-range multipurpose UAS (Keller, 2015). The Gray Eagle can be used for attack missions when fitted with the AGM-114 Hellfire missile. Nonetheless, the design goals and top-level requirements should be implemented to meet the needs of its users. One of the design goals by the United States military and the General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc (GA-ASI)is to upgrade the MQ-1C Gray Eagle. The improvement will enhance the Gray Eagle survivability and performancein contested surroundings (Army Technology, 2019). The GA-ASI was awarded the contract by the army to modernize the avionics, data links, and software of the aircraft.

Upgrading of the aircraft will ensure that the military obtains a significant surge in performance as a return on their investment. The Gray Eagle provided the military with unmanned systems, which adjusts to the fluctuating threat environment and mission requirements with an endurance that cannot be matched. The modification requirements will provide an open design of architecture that will support the long-range sensors and the government-owned software incorporation. It will also ensure increased autonomy to guarantee a scalable control interface. The goals of these top-level requirements are to support the efforts of the military for multi-domain functions. Other specified requirements encompass a reduction in weight, size, and power and improved reliability. The upgrade will ensure the delivery of augmented ability and cost savings. The upgrade of the aircraft also ensures that the Gray Eagle is a significant play in the multi-domain operations of the future.

There also need for an epic series that will integrate spot beams in a fabric with high performance that will ensure significant delivery of increased capacity per satellite. It will ensure increased throughput per spectrum unity delivery, while at the same maintaining the broad traditional wide beam satellite coverage. According to Drew (2016), there is also a need to pursue changes in the component to enhance the Gray Eagle's heavy fuel engine reliability.

Overall, industries could bring forward novel technologies that could be incorporated on the unmanned system platform since numerous opportunities exist, especially for novel efforts of weapon integration.

References

Army Technology. (2019). GA-ASI and U.S. Army to increase MQ-1C Gray Eagle ER UAS capabilities. Retrieved from: https://www.army-technology.com/news/ga-asi-mq-1c-gray-eagle-er-capabilities/. Accessed 30 July 2020.

Drew, J. (2016). U.S. Army wants to boost the reliability of MQ-1C Gray Eagle's engine. Retrieved from: https://www.flightglobal.com/us-army-wants-to-boost-reliability-of-mq-1c-gray-eagles-engine/120501.article. Accessed 30 July 2020.

Keller, J. (2015). Army orders 19 MQ-1C Gray Eagle UAS to go with others from last March. Retrieved from: https://www.intelligent-aerospace.com/military/article/16538388/army-orders-19-mq1c-gray-eagle-uas-to-go-with-others-from-last-march. Accessed 30 July 2020.