Programme to focus on machine-to-machine interface
The US Air Force unmanned air vehicle Battlelab is to release a broad agency request for demonstrations of hunter-killer UAV operations using machine-to-machine co-operation technologies.
Lt Col Steven Ward, USAF UAV Battlelab integration division chief, says the hunter-killer programme is intended to speed up engagement times for critical targets. It could involve both UAV-to-UAV and UAV-to-unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) operations.
It could also see demonstration of operations linking UAVs to manned platforms, he says. “We are trying to generate a machine-to-machine interface capability.”
Ward says a typical UAV-to-UAV concept might involve surveillance UAVs being used to patrol an area of interest and passing target data to an armed UAV such as the General Atomics MQ-9 Predator. The target data would be sufficiently robust to allow for the immediate engagement of a transient target despite it not having been seen by the MQ-9. The capability would pave the way for use of large armed UAVs in “dispenser in the sky” roles.
Speaking at the Unmanned Systems International conference last week, Ward also revealed the Battlelab is hoping to demonstrate its developmental UAV battle management system (UBMS) at next year’s JEFX 06 joint warfare exercise in the USA.
The UBMS is intended to provide a UAV and UGV co-ordination capability at combined air operation centre (CAOC) level to ensure more efficient use of unmanned system resources.
At the conference, held in London by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International and Flight International, Ward said that existing command and control arrangements for UAVs can result in multiple UAVs of different types all monitoring a common area rather than providing total battlefield surveillance.
PETER LA FRANCHI/LONDON
Source: Flight International
