Unable to secure further funding support from the Army, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has chosen to cancel the third phase of the Unmanned Combat Armed Rotorcraft (UCAR) program, an industry source told The DAILY.

DARPA and the Army originally planned to split the cost of the $500 million program roughly 50/50, with DARPA paying most of its share in the early years, including two-thirds of the cost of Phase III. However, the Army pulled its support earlier this year to pay for other aviation priorities (DAILY, Sept. 20).

After months spent with the program in limbo, DARPA finally decided that it could not proceed into Phase III without a service partner to share the cost, the source said. DARPA Director Tony Tether canceled the program after a Dec. 22 meeting with Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Richard Cody, according to the source.

Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin were in competition for Phase III of UCAR, when one team would have been awarded a $160 million contract to begin building flight prototypes. In recent months the teams were sustained by bridge funding as DARPA negotiated with the Army. The teams underwent program reviews as recently as the week of Dec. 20.

Designed for low- to medium-altitude reconnaissance and attack, the UCAR would have been the most autonomous unmanned aircraft ever built, capable of coordinating with other UCARs and accepting high-level verbal commands from operators. It was being designed to fit into the Army's existing command and control infrastructure without the need for dedicated ground stations.