The Australian Defence Force needs to significantly increase its co-operation with established UAV user nations to overcome major experience shortfalls, according to the Australian Defence Headquarters director general of aerospace development, Air Cdre John Oddie.
The ADF needs to significantly improve its planning for introduction of all types of unmanned systems, he says, particularly in terms of developing a common operational architecture that can also fully integrate with other ADF networks.
Speaking at the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International’s (AUVSI) Unmanned Systems Asia Pacific 2007 conference in Melbourne, Australia, Oddie also said introduction of unmanned systems may be experiencing constraints caused by the failure of the ADF to examine UAV technology on a whole-of-government basis.
He said that the ADF’s existing UAV roadmap remains a work in progress, with more work needed to link various types of capabilities into a single coherent system: “It doesn’t tell me how to connect into the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance pathways we are going to build. It doesn’t tell me how that unmanned air system framework is going to connect in with our manned platforms. It doesn’t tell me how to connect in with the persistent or non-persistent delivery of weapons.
“We have developed an unmanned system roadmap, but I am telling you right now that I don’t bow down and genuflect in front of this thing. It is useful within its context, but that is as far as it goes. It gives us a sense of where this particular technology pathway will go, but right now we have yet to put a framework - an architecture or whatever you want to call it – to put the cap on top of the pillars to actually connect all of those ideas.”
Oddie says that despite a long history of interest in UAV technology by Australia, “The first thing we need to do is get these things into service. We can’t continue or even progress down a pathway where we experiment, we research, we do all of this, but we don’t actually do something useful. We have got to do something useful. We have got to get it into service and if it is 80% good enough, 70% good enough, get on with it and do it. That is where we have got to be. We have got to experiment our way to success by actually applying these things to the task of the day.”
Once in service, Australia needs to ensure it can effectively leverage the benefits of the technology. “Our operators have to have a research style, inquiring mind and the organisational flexibility to apply the systems in useful new ways.”
Australia also needs to “explore the opportunities where unmanned air systems technologies, new approaches to capabilities, have demonstrated advantages. Where have we not fully exploited these new approaches?
“As newcomers to the unmanned air system domain we should look to those who have been long-term users for key lessons. There is a magic amount of experience out there and we have to build the partnerships with those who are experienced users, draw those lessons out. We don’t need to rediscover them.”
Oddie said that while there is now an initial roll-out of UAV technology in the ADF, this will expand significantly in coming years. “Defence doesn’t own all of the problem and the solution space. We have got to work with our coalition partners; we have got to work with industry. We have got to have the cultural partnerships with everybody so that we can understand how to move forward.”
This includes a need for inter-agency approaches across the various layers of Australian government to ensure effective access to airspace and management of other operational constraints such as spectrum allocation: “That is a direct indication of how we are yet to grow as a national government view. Whether it is federal government or state government with federal or whatever, it doesn’t matter. We have got to break down those cultural boundaries, organisational boundaries if we are really going to be successful.”
Source: FlightGlobal.com
