General Atomics, CCA 양산이 궤도에 오르면 하루 1대 생산이 가능하다

[위종민]

GA가 국방부가 주문한다면 2~3년 이내에 CCA를 하루에 한 대 생산할 수 있다고 회사 관련자가 Breaking Defense 지에 밝혔네요. 

미공군은 최소 1천대 가량의 CCA를 뽑는다는 것 외에 구체적인 계획을 공개하지 않았지만, GA는 미군 외에 국제고객들의 미래 수요를 충족시키기 위해 필요한 사항을 평가하고 있으며, CCA 시장이 2천대 가까이 커질수도 있다고 평가하네요. 

GA는 그간 무인기를 주문량이 피크였을 때 3일에 한 대씩 생산해왔고, 캘리포니아주 포웨이의 현 시설만으로도 이틀에 한 대씩 CCA를 생산할 수 있으며 크지 않은 자본투자로 공장을 확장하면 생산속도를 더 늘릴 수 있다고 합니다. 

General Atomics could produce CCAs at a rate of one-per-day, exec says - Breaking Defense

General Atomics could produce CCAs at a rate of one-per-day, exec says - Breaking Defense

General Atomics could produce CCAs at a rate of one-per-day, exec says

General Atomics could scale to build a drone wingman every two days “without lifting a finger” at its existing 5 million square foot production plant in Poway, Calif., the company’s head of aeronautics told Breaking Defense. To go faster, the company would need to expand.

By   Valerie Insinnaon October 16, 2024 at 1:34 PM

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc’s CCA on display at AFA 2024 (Valerie Insinna/Breaking Defense)

AUSA 2024 — General Atomics could ramp up production of autonomous combat drones to a rate of one aircraft per day in two to three years if given the signal by the Defense Department, the company’s head of aeronautics told Breaking Defense.

The Air Force has yet to award a production contract for its drone wingman, known as Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA), nor has it laid out a definitive plan for how quickly it plans to acquire at least 1,000 drones across the lifespan of the program.

However, General Atomics has already begun assessing what it would take to meet potential future needs for the other US services as well as international customers, which could lead to a market that is closer to 2,000 CCAs, Dave Alexander said in an interview at the Association of the US Army conference.

“The question is, how quick can you get them there?” he said.  “How long do you want to take to get 2,000 built?”

At peak production, the dronemaker manufactured one aircraft from its unmanned fleet every three days, for a rate of about 100 per year, Alexander said. “It’s not a far stretch for us to turn that into one per day on a single aircraft with productionization and automation, which we’re investing in today.”

General Atomics could scale to build a CCA every two days “without lifting a finger” at its existing 5 million square foot production plant in Poway, Calif., Alexander said. To go faster, the company would need to expand its footprint with additional facilities, but the level of capital investments required would be “not huge,” he added.

In April, the Air Force awarded contracts to General Atomics and defense tech startup Anduril to build CCA prototypes, which are expected to make their first flights next year ahead of a production decision in 2026. Service officials have repeatedly stated that it could put CCAs from one or both vendors into production, or that it could opt to buy CCAs from other vendors that were previously cut from the competition.

Since the prototype contracts were announced, both General Atomics and Anduril have waged a technological and public relations battle, with both companies hyping up their ability to develop a semi-autonomous combat drone that will fight alongside fighter jets — a capability that is completely novel for the Air Force — and build those CCAs at scale.

RELATED: Before their CCA drones even take to the air, Anduril and General Atomics trade shots

General Atomics is investing in technologies to make CCA production quicker and more efficient than the days of the MQ-1 Predator and early models of the MQ-9 Reaper, when the drones were essentially fabricated by hand, Alexander said.

“Our goal right now [is] to squeeze out the touch labor, and get the automation in there. And that affects the design,” he said. The company is looking at “how would we automate actually building parts with robots, kind of like you would have in an automotive production line, so that this thing can come together much, much faster, with less touch labor.”

For example, General Atomics is bringing in robotic systems that can lay up composite fibers, which can build composite aircraft structures like wings more efficiently than humans can manually. The company is also incorporating more additive manufactured parts in that effort to cut human touch labor while cutting material waste, Alexander said.

General Atomics is not the only potential CCA manufacturer trumpeting its production capabilities. Anduril has also touted its plans to build weapons systems like CCA at “hyperscale” at a factory it has dubbed “Arsenal.” It plans to announce the location of the new production plant this year.

An expeditionary, short take off CCA

In addition to the focus on the Air Force program, Alexander said General Atomics is eval‎uating new variants of the Gambit drone that forms the basis of its CCA offering.

For example, on its Gambit 5 — a proposed version that can be launched from an aircraft carrier — the company hopes to add capability meant to enable expeditionary operations, such as the ability to take off from “very, very short runways,” he said.

He declined to comment on the specific takeoff length for the proposed variant, as well as how the drone would be launched, though he acknowledged that some additional launch equipment would be needed.

“We’re working on concepts that we will reveal in time, but we’re very bullish about our ideas,” Alexander said.

[백선호]

하루 1대가 아니라 2대를 만들어도 F-4의 1967년초 월간 70대에는 못미치네요.

https://cafe.daum.net/NTDS/515G/1806

[위종민]

월산 70대 ㄷㄷㄷㄷ

[백선호]

A320 계열은 2026년 월산 75대로 올린답니다. ㄷㄷㄷ

[위종민]

이미 넘었을 지도 모르겠는데 곧 320이 737 역전해서 가장 많이 생산된 여객기가 되겠네요 @.@

[위종민]

https://www.aerotime.aero/articles/boeing-dreamliner-south-carolina-investment

여객기는 787같은 광동체기도 월산 10대 생산을 목표로 공장을 확장한다고 합니다.