BAE Systems is exhibiting its High Endurance Rapid Technology Insertion (HERTI) UAV system at Dubai for the first time, with a flyable production-standard air vehicle and a full ground station and support equipment.
HERTI, which is claimed to be one of the world’s first fully autonomous UAVs, was originally developed as a concept demonstrator, and made the first, and so far the only, fully autonomous flight by a UAV in UK airspace with Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) clearance.
Unlike most in-service UAVs, HERTI does not need to be controlled by an operator with a joystick and a throttle, sitting in a ground station. Instead, once programmed, the operator just clicks his mouse and the aircraft does everything else for itself - from takeoff to landing. It is able to deal with unexpected events, taking evasive action if another aircraft crosses its path, and can point its sensors at targets of opportunity.
During one test flight, for example, a HERTI making a routine flight over the Irish Sea spotted an unexpected object in the water, and automatically photographed it. Though this proved to be just a lobster pot, it demonstrated the system’s ability to find and photograph a head-sized object in heavy swell. This was a perfect illustration of the kind of dull, repetitive tasks that humans find difficult to sustain, but which computers and sensing systems are optimised to undertake.
The HERTI is now viewed as an affordable production UAV platform that will offer levels of reliability that until now have only been available in manned aircraft. It comes to Dubai fresh from an operational deployment to Afghanistan with the British Royal Air Force. This was undertaken as part of the RAF Air Warfare Centre’s Project Morrigan, in which the RAF UAV Battlelab integrated HERTI into a series of military exercises and training events, including a combined qualified weapon instructor (QWI) training course in order to assess capability and help to develop potential tactics, techniques and procedures for integrating UAVs into joint manned/unmanned force structures.
Wing Commander Mike Humphreys, Commander of the RAF’s UAV Battlelab, said: the objectives and outputs from HERTI’s use in Afghanistan remain classified, but the system has been successful in demonstrating its capability in an operational environment. “Both the RAF and BAE Systems are satisfied with the progress and development of the project thus far and we look forward to building on this in the coming months,” he says.
The use of an autonomous UAV is believed to have reduced the pressure currently imposed by UAV systems on spectrum availability in Afghanistan.
Back to the rest of Dubai 2007 show news, blogs, and pictures
Source: Flight Daily News
