Guy Norris/YUMA
The US Army has begun demonstrations of the Rotorcraft Pilot's Associate (RPA), a cockpit management system for combat helicopters, amid mounting interest from potential non-rotary users, including the unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) and Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) programmes.
A Boeing Phantom Works-led team developed the RPA over six years under an $80 million advanced technology demonstration contract with the US Army's Aviation Applied Technology Directorate.
The RPA is designed to improve situational awareness and help the pilot manage and integrate digitised battlefield information. Using advanced computers and artificial intelligence, the system helps the pilot plan optimised reconnaissance and attack positions, direct other team members and manage the use of sensors, communications and weapons. Data are displayed on three large multifunction colour displays which replace the Boeing AH-64 Apache's two cockpit screens.
A prototype RPA has been flying at the US Army's Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona since last October in an AH-64DApache Longbow. Most testing is complete. Demonstrations started in late July and last until the end of this month. "This is the first practical application in a flying operational aircraft and we are trying to showcase its functionality in a tactical flight environment," says US Army RPA programme manager, Col George Dimitrov.
"We have the programme managers of Comanche, Apache and Longbow attack helicopters coming as well as other target people such as the UCAV and Crusader [ground vehicle] executives," he adds. Boeing RPA programme manager Lee Daniel says the system can be applied to the JSF and is under study by the Boeing/Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency UCAV team.
Demonstrations include simulated tactical operations on the range using Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System data relayed to the RPA aircraft via two Bell UH-1s equipped with data and video downlinks.
A key aspect of the demonstrations, says the RPA team, is to prove the system's operational reliability, as well as showing that the pilot is always in charge and that the crew can accept, reject, modify or override its recommendations.
RPA team members include Lockheed Martin Federal Systems, Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Laboratories, Kaiser Electronics, AlliedSignal, Honeywell and Raytheon.
Source: Flight International
