A business case analysis for the Vulture program

Abstract

The Vulture program is an initiative being developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The end goal of the Vulture program is to develop a high altitude long endurance (HALE) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that is capable of maintaining a 1,000-pound payload on station for five years. The DARPA goals for the Vulture program include, at a minimum, the development and demonstration of advanced reliability technologies for the proposed future Vulture system. It is envisioned that Vulture will provide affordable, persistent coverage over an area of interest for surveillance and communications relay missions. The purpose of this study is to estimate the potential cost savings and identify other benefits associated with the potential operational use of Vulture. This study conducts a business case analysis (BCA) comparing the estimated costs of the Vulture program to those of the Global Hawk and Global Observer systems. Sensitivity analyses are performed on the cost variables, as well as a general risk assessment for Vulture.