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Even though the Air Force doesn’t have any operational F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, the aircraft’s manufacturer says it can make an unmanned version of the stealthy, multirole plane.

A Lockheed Martin study that concluded about 18 months ago revealed the “viability of such a vehicle,” according to company officials, though few details were available.

Lockheed spokesman John Smith would not discuss the study data but said in a written statement that it “indicates that an Optionally Piloted F-35 could be a viable alternative in the future should it match customer requirements.”

Air Force officials haven’t signed on yet. “No plans exist to take this beyond a conceptual effort,” Smith said.

Air Force spokeswoman Lt. Col. Catherine Reardon declined to comment on the issue.

The unmanned F-35 is Lockheed Martin’s way of compensating for its absence from the Pentagon’s Joint Unmanned Combat Air Systems bid, which aims to provide unmanned strike aircraft for the Air Force and Navy, said Frank Mauro, director of unmanned aerial vehicle programs at the company’s Advanced Development Programs unit in Palmdale, Calif., otherwise known as the Skunk Works.

In operation, manned F-35s would control up to four unmanned combat aerial vehicles through an aerial wireless Internet setup, Mauro said. This would eliminate the need for satellite communications while allowing the removal of sensors from the drones, which would serve solely as bomb carriers.

Initial plans show the unmanned F-35 retaining its cockpit and canopy, though a follow-on version would eliminate those features and use the space for additional fuel.

“We’re focused on our manned F-35 now,” Mauro said, “but will pick up the unmanned version as interest among the military grows. And, unlike J-UCAS, we have a vehicle flying now.”

Lockheed finished building the first of the manned F-35s in February. The conventional-takeoff-and-landing aircraft is being prepared for flight tests scheduled to begin in late October.

The Air Force has plans to purchase 1,763 F-35s. Low-rate production of the aircraft is scheduled to begin in 2007, Smith said.

Some unusual UAVs

Lockheed unveiled the Polecat high altitude research unmanned aerial vehicle in July and has revealed plans for a diverse range of new unmanned combat aircraft — some bordering on the exotic.

Among them are a fan-in-wing vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft known as the Various, a morphing-wing Hunter Killer, the submarine-launched Cormorant and a hypersonic “deep strike” aircraft called the Falcon.

“This, along with the Polecat, is our way to get back into the unmanned systems business,” Mauro said. “A little of it is playing catch-up; a little of it is leapfrogging forward.”

Falcon, the hypersonic unmanned combat aerial vehicle, addresses an anticipated Air Force requirement for an unmanned “deep strike” aircraft able to reach anywhere in the world from the continental U.S. in two hours or less. Propulsion is the key to this capability, and Falcon is slated to employ turbine engines that morph into supersonic combustion ramjets, or Scramjets.

Designed around a weapons load of about 16,000 pounds, this Boeing B-52-sized drone could one day fly for five hours at Mach 10, or 7,612 mph, at the edge of space. So far, the only publicly revealed aircraft to achieve this speed range is NASA’s X-43A experimental aircraft, which used Scramjet power to reach Mach 9.6 in November 2004.

Development of the Various, a ducted-fan UAV capable of vertical flight, is at an early stage. This aircraft is slated to meet a naval requirement for a 6,000- to 8,000-pound vehicle to replace the Firescout, a UAV based on a light civil helicopter.

Adjustable wings are a key aspect of the Hunter Killer UCAV, which would have the ability to dash like a strike aircraft but loiter like a dedicated reconnaissance platform.

Lockheed Martin is partnering with the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency on morphing vehicle technology; they plan to use a small demonstrator to prove that in-flight control can be maintained during the shape-shifting process. Subsequent tests with a larger vehicle are expected to evaluate this approach under mission conditions.

Cormorant, a stealthy, submarine-launched UCAV powered by a pair of Tomahawk cruise missile engines, is also in its first phase. Engineers are seeking to prove that this vehicle — also with morphing wings — can be launched from the missile silo of a converted ballistic missile submarine, fly a mission and be recovered, perhaps by an unmanned underwater vehicle.

“They want to see if they can seal the vehicle, crash it into the ocean and get it back into the tube,” Mauro said. The aircraft will land in the water with its wings in the extended position, he added.

“These are the dreams we’re putting our money on,” Mauro said.

Paul Richfield is the editor of C4ISR Journal. Laura M. Colarusso contributed to this report.