Navy UAS program still flying high despite recent crashes
By Henry KenyonApr 19, 2012
The Navy is forging ahead with key unmanned aircraft systems programs while trying to get a firm handle on the nature of the problems that caused two of its Fire Scout UAS to crash in recent weeks, said a top Navy official. The Navy has advanced its carrier-launched unmanned aircraft to flight testing and is working with the other services to refine a control system that can operate multiple unmanned aircraft despite the Fire Scout setback, Rear Adm. William Shannon, program executive officer for Unmanned Aviation and Strike Weapons, said April 17 at the Navy League's Sea-Air-Space exhibition.
Related coverage:
Navy's 'Hunger Games' lab will put robots to survival tests
The Unmanned Combat Air System Carrier Demonstration (UCAS-D) aircraft is currently undergoing arrestor hook engagement and high-speed rolls at the Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md., Shannon said. UCAS-D is one of three major unmanned aircraft system efforts the Navy has under way, he said. The other two are the MQ-8 Fire Scout and the Common Control System.
Once the Northrop Grumman-built X-47B being tested for the UCAS-D program completes the flight tests, it is scheduled to undergo radio frequency testing to ensure that its systems will not be jammed or confused by the noisy radio environment of a carrier deck, Shannon said. Flight tests are planned for later this summer, he said. The Navy already has tested the UCAS-D flight and landing software in a specially equipped F-18 Hornet. Although the aircraft was manned, it was able to successfully fly automated final landing approaches to aircraft carriers, Shannon said. Automated landing systems have existed for decades and are used on modern manned carrier aircraft, but the major difference between current radar-based systems and the UCAS' system is that the latter is based on Global Positioning System data, he said.
Despite being deployed operationally at sea, the MQ-8 Fire Scout unmanned helicopter is still undergoing developmental and operational testing, Shannon said. The unmanned helicopters have been flying operationally in Afghanistan for eight months, where they have flown convoy security missions and have been responsible for detecting and interdicting the placement of improvised explosive devices, Shannon said. The Fire Scout fleet is currently undergoing an evaluation after the crashes of two aircraft in recent weeks, Shannon said. The circumstances were very different for each aircraft, Shannon said. One incident involved a failed landing attempt at sea on the deck of the destroyer USS Simpson. The aircraft failed to establish a data link to allow it to land safely, so its operators allowed it to run out of fuel and ditched it in the ocean. The aircraft was then recovered intact and is now undergoing an evaluation. The second Fire Scout was lost in Afghanistan a week after the first incident. Although little data is available at the moment on the incident, the aircraft was a complete loss after crashing, Shannon said. Both incidents seem unrelated, he said, but that will be determined by a board of inquiry. Another Fire Scout was lost in Libya in 2011 when it was shot down while supporting NATO combat operations, he said. Progress is also being made on the MQ8-C Fire Scout, which is an urgent Navy requirement for a platform with greater endurance and payload capacity than the current MQ-8 variant. The Navy recently signed a contract with Northrop Grumman for the new version, which involves replacing the existing airframe with that of a Bell 407 helicopter. The larger airframe will increase the aircraft's endurance from six hours to 14 hours, Shannon said. Although the new aircraft will have a completely different air frame, 95 percent of its avionics software will remain the same, he said. While the Navy is moving ahead with its various UAS programs, it also is working to develop a single control system to manage them all through its Common Control System (CCS) effort. Although it is not a formal program, CCS is crucial to the service because of the need for operators to control multiple UAS platforms, Shannon said. Another goal is to provide a standardized, government-owned command and control framework instead of the variety of vendor-designed control systems that are currently available, he added. The CCS is now undergoing tests, with developers writing 1,000 lines of new code for the system, Shannon said. The development process also used nearly one million lines of existing code, he said. CCS also is part of a wider joint DOD program for a single UAS command and control capability. All of the services are sharing information and working on their parts of the CCS program, he said.
Commercial imagery boosts efficiency, savings for NGA09/30/2016
Hacking the Pentagon for patriotism and profit10/10/2016
DisasterSim trains Army for foreign disaster assistance 05/24/2016
Fighter jets chase runaway NORAD blimp10/28/2015
DOD takes on personnel modernization06/15/2015
News Corp. has an eye in the sky: drones08/05/2011
Software glitches leave Navy Smart Ship dead in the water07/13/1998
Sat, Apr 21, 2012
A_COL Drones will be "the inevitable future of Military aviation" so why would it be any surprise that civilian aviation will follow suit. Technology will eventually render most human piloted Military aircraft obsolete, not because of the obvious concerns for the safety of the pilot or the morality of killing with drones but because the limiting factor on manned aircraft performance is how much abuse the human body can endure. We know the limits of the human body but as aircraft technology continues to leap forward, we are going to reach a point where the aircraft will be able to "out perform" the pilot so the only way to take full advantage of the aircraft's performance will be to remove the "limiting factor" - the pilot - from the cockpit. A drone can simply turn sharper and accelerate quicker than the human body can tolerate so an adversary's drone will be able to defeat any piloted aircraft we field. And this doesn't even consider a computer's faster reflexes than a human to react to situations. In aerial combat, split seconds matter.Hence, it's just a matter of time before even the "morality" arguments becomes moot as ALL combat aircraft become "Remotely Piloted Vehicles" (RPVs). Unless we keep up with technology, our piloted planes will eventually be out performed and defeated by our adversaries' drones. Sorry, you can't stop progress so it's only a matter of time and concerns like "morality" will have nothing to do with it! Know this scares the Heck out of Navy and air Force Fighter Jocks but your days are numbered! Sorry!For a more elaborate explanation why it's only a matter of time before Military pilots are obsolete, check my Blog article "How Long Will It Be Before Air Force & Navy Cockpit Pilots Are Obsolete?" at:  .