Urban surveillance: U.S. Special Operations Command weighs deployment of armed drones.

• Author: Rusling, Matthew
• Position: Special Operations

After a decade of development, an experimental rotary-wing unmanned aerial vehicle may have found a customer at Special Operations Command.

The Boeing A160T Hummingbird, originally a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency program, is undergoing a series of tests at a Boeing Co. facility in Victorville, Calif. Among the demonstrations is the use of Hummingbird as a strike weapon. For the tests, the aircraft is being equipped with air-to-ground missiles, said a SOCOM spokesman.

The command could find many uses for an armed vertical-takeoff UAV while conducting counterinsurgency operations, experts said.

Special Operations has received seven Hummingbird prototypes, three of which arrived last November, said SOCOM spokesman Capt. Wes Ticer. The aircraft's manufacturer, the Boeing Co., confirmed that the command took delivery of the UAVs under a joint SOCOM-DARPA contract for a "Special Operations long endurance demonstration."

Since 2002, SOCOM has awarded about $90 million in contracts related to the UAV, said Ticer. The unit cost for a Hummingbird prototype is about $3.6 million.

During the test, four dummy hellfire missiles are mounted on each side of the aircraft's "stub wings" that hold the weapons. Initial demonstrations are testing how the addition of the missiles affects the aerodynamics, said John Groenenboom, A160T program manager at Boeing Advanced Systems.

SOCOM is also considering strengthening the skin of the Hummingbird to protect it against extreme heat and cold, since the vehicle was not designed for such environments, Ticer said. The command is also adding a redundant flight control--a backup system that is now standard in most UAVs.

The Hummingbird's design allows it to fly higher and longer than most helicopters currently in use, said Boeing officials. The craft was initially developed by Frontier Systems Inc., which was acquired by Boeing in 2004. The company received a three-year $50 million DARPA contract in 2005 to test the aircraft. The agency remains involved in the testing of various sensor payloads aboard the A160T.

The UAV is 35 feet long with a 36-foot diameter rotor. It weighs 2,500 pounds without cargo and can hold more than 2,500 pounds of fuel. It can fly at speeds of up to 195 mph. It can carry up to 1,500 pounds, Groenenboom said.

The Hummingbird can fly 18.7 straight hours, according to Boeing. Its predecessor, a gasoline-powered drone known as the A160, made its first flight in 2002 and its longest...