One of the UK Ministry of Defence’s key future strike concepts has undergone a successful series of flight trials using two platforms intended to mimic the performance of an unmanned combat air vehicle working in combination with a new-generation single-seat fighter.

Conducted late last month from Qinetiq’s Boscombe Down site in Wiltshire, the flights involved a BAC One-Eleven platform acting as a surrogate UCAV and a Panavia Tornado F2 fighter equipped with a modified cockpit which enabled its pilot to manage operations of the airliner and a further three simulated UCAVs.

Tiara

The Tornado pilot was able to instruct the autonomous UCAV swarm to enter an area of interest and perform a coordinated search and attack mission against simulated moving ground targets. Using agent-based software developed at Qinetiq’s Bedford site in Hertfordshire, the unmanned systems were able to self-organise and execute their mission, which included relaying simulated imagery of potential threats to the fighter via an HF datalink. An autonomy computer the size of a large shoe box supplied roll, pitch and speed control directly into the One-Eleven’s autopilot for the trial.

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Royal Air Force test pilot Sqn Ldr Andy Blythe prioritised the targets before authorising the unmanned platforms to coordinate and perform successful bombing missions. “This is an intelligent capability with a human decision-maker, not a ‘terminator’ with a mind of its own,” says John Platts, Qinetiq’s technical leader for UAV autonomy. Blythe says managing the UCAV swarm from the Tornado was “no more difficult a demand than operating a sensor like a targeting pod. We have proved the system from the most difficult platform type.”

The autonomy trial will be used to support a decision on the manned/unmanned mix of the MoD’s future deep target attack fleet, a decision on which is expected from 2011. The work will also support the UK’s more than £120 million ($235 million) Taranis UCAV demonstrator project being led by BAE Systems, which will also use autonomous technologies developed by the company’s Australian business unit.

 

Source: FlightGlobal.com