Ramon Lopez/Fort Eustis
The US Army has "re-focused" its Bird Dog unmanned-air-vehicle (UAV) project to demonstrate the capability of advanced manned and unmanned systems to function together effectively on the battlefield.
While the Bird Dog project was geared to developing a small, intelligent and fully autonomous UAV, the current research effort, known as the Airborne Manned/Unmanned System Technology (AMUST) programme, will help to decide how best to integrate current and future UAVs with attack- and scout-helicopter operations.
"We're not developing a new UAV," says Steve Parker, head of the AMUST project. "We're developing a link that allows an aircraft and a UAV to work together."
The programme is still undefined, but the US Army plans to conduct an advanced-technology demonstration (ATD) for the AMUST between 2000 and 2004.
Before the ATD, the US Army will assess the best "control relationship" for the helicopter and UAV. In one scenario, a ground station would control the UAV and merely pass data to the helicopter crew via normal communications channels. On the other hand, the UAV may be directly coupled to a command-and-control aircraft or scout/attack helicopters. In this event, human interface will be kept to a minimum, to keep pilot workload low. It is possible, however, that the pilot might be able to control the sensors on the UAV.
Source: Flight International
