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23 Jan 20. Ted Maciuba, P.E., Deputy Director of Robotics Requirements, Maneuver Capability Development Integration Directorate, U.S. Army Futures Command gave an update on the US Army’s Maneuver Center for Excellence at Fort Benning. The US Army’s Maneuver Center for Excellence is hoping to solve through trial and experimentation. The National Advanced Mobility Consortium posted a request for white papers Aug. 5 about technologies that might have a place in a robotic, artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomy technology demonstration at Fort Benning in September 2020.
This project is long in the works, with an announcement of intent dating back to March 2019. The premise, as stated in the March announcement, is to “show a path towards an Army capability that will provide a robotically equipped dismounted infantry platoon that is 10 times more effective than the current dismounted infantry platoon.”
In order to do this, the Maneuver Center for Excellence, together with Fort Benning’s Maneuver Capabilities Development and Integration Directorate’s Robotics Requirements Division, is exploring robotic systems for “ground, air, water,” as well as the virtual space — otherwise known as the four platonic elements of terrestrial war. These robots and systems should be able to improve “mobility, protection, situational awareness, endurance, persistence, and depth” as well as, and this is key, lethality.
Taken together, the robots should lend an advantage to the platoon’s OODA loop — its ability to observe, orient, decide and act — with the goal that a robot-enabled platoon completes OODA-loop cycles 10 times faster than it would without robots. That’s a tremendous amount of promise to put in remote systems, especially since the present paradigm of controlled robotic battlefield tools involves a lot of human observers and controllers checking on, managing, and directing the robots. (The process by which humans are actively involved in robot control is “in the loop” or, with more passive robot monitoring termed “on the loop.”)
In order to do this, the Maneuver Center for Excellence, together with Fort Benning’s Maneuver Capabilities Development and Integration Directorate’s Robotics Requirements Division, is exploring robotic systems for “ground, air, water,” as well as the virtual space — otherwise known as the four platonic elements of terrestrial war. These robots and systems should be able to improve “mobility, protection, situational awareness, endurance, persistence, and depth” as well as, and this is key, lethality.
Taken together, the robots should lend an advantage to the platoon’s OODA loop — its ability to observe, orient, decide and act — with the goal that a robot-enabled platoon completes OODA-loop cycles 10 times faster than it would without robots. That’s a tremendous amount of promise to put in remote systems, especially since the present paradigm of controlled robotic battlefield tools involves a lot of human observers and controllers checking on, managing, and directing the robots. (The process by which humans are actively involved in robot control is “in the loop” or, with more passive robot monitoring termed “on the loop.”)
Ted Maciuba said that the aim was to develop a capability that is ten times that which already exists using AI tools to give decisions ten times faster. To that end they commissioned 100 White papers from Industry from which they chose 38 from 33 vendors and applied for funding. Tabletop exercises were then conducted to model the White Papers and the winners will be announced through the National Advanced Mobility Consortium on January 23rd.
There will then be further discussions at the Maneuver Warfare Conference in December 2020.
In preparation for the September 2020 exercise, Georgia Tech Research Institute is designated to serve as the technology integrator for the assessment and demonstration parts of the task. As the industry proposals are vetted to meet Army needs, some will receive a Request for Prototype Proposal, and will also be evaluated in a simulation exercise to see if they will be part of the 2020 exercise.
Interested parties should look to the National Advanced Mobility Consortium’s posted request, and to the earlier proposal announcement, for more specific guidance. Interested observers, meanwhile, should keep an eye on September 2020 in Georgia, where the Army will see if the future of war is really 10 times as promising as expected. (Source: C4ISR & Networks)
23 Jan 20. US Navy Builds Aircraft Carrier Drone Headquarters. The US Navy is building a special new command and control mini “drone-headquarters” space on its aircraft carriers to operate deck-launched drones as part of a strategy aimed at massively increasing the scope of carrier-launched drone missions in coming years.
Launching drones from carriers represents an unprecedented technical leap for the Navy as it seeks to expand surveillance and combat range and mission scope for its Carrier Air Wings. The new space, as explained Jan.16 at the Surface Navy Association Annual Symposium by senior Navy leaders, is being engineered as an adaptation to existing ship-based structures and configurations. The center, called Unmanned Aviation Warfare Center, is being built into both the Navy’s new Ford-class carriers as well as its existing Nimitz-class carriers.
“It is the re-purposing of a space on the ship to basically be a control room from which you can send and receive data from unmanned systems and give them updates as needed,” Capt. Charles Ehnes, In-Service Aircraft Carrier Program Manager.
As mentioned by Ehnes, this can massively increase target designation and combat-essential data sharing across air and surface Navy assets at war. Drones can not only increase range but also, of course, reduce risks to manned pilots, and such technology is rapidly improving as weapons developers continue to accelerate new methods of manned-unmanned networking and information sharing in real-time.
The Navy’s move to progressively increase the number of carrier-launched drone missions brings several new attack and combat options for ship commanders. The current drone-centered mission scope is largely surveillance and refueling, as evidenced by a first-of-its-kind MQ-25 Stingray carrier-launched refueler drone now being developed for Navy carriers. The emerging MQ-25 drone, to reach operational status in the next few years, will greatly extend the attack reach of carrier-launched fighters such as F-35s and F-18s. In effect, a drone of this kind could almost double the reach of Carrier Air Wing attack assets, enabling greater standoff range for carriers and longer “dwell time” on attack missions over enemy territory. For instance, if an emerging F-35C operates at an attack range of 300 to 500 miles before needing to refuel, a carrier-launched aerial refueler could potentially double this and greatly extend mission options.
In recent years, the Navy has been moving quickly to develop and refine new technical paradigms designed to address the many challenges associated with launching and landing drones on carriers — without the direction of a manned pilot. These included finding ways a drone can withstand rigorous weather conditions such as windy landings, navigate various sea-states, land on large moving ships, land at night and coordinate with other air assets.
Alongside the fast-emerging carrier-launched drone refueling mission, it is conceivable that future carrier-launched drones could operate attack missions — all while using the carrier-based drone command center to ensure a human is in the loop performing command and control. An armed drone could launch from a carrier, find and identify targets before networking them to manned airborne fighter jets or carrier-based Navy decision-makers. (Source: UAS VISION/The National Interest)
23 Jan 20. Blackjack Fielding Complete for US Navy, Marine Corps. The fielding of the RQ-21A Blackjack unmanned aerial system achieved full operational capability in 2019, the US Navy’s program manager said.
Col. John Neville, the Blackjack’s program manager for the Program Executive Office-Unmanned and Strike Weapons, told Seapower at the Surface Navy Association gathering here that all 21 systems for the Marine Corps and 10 for the Navy have been delivered to fleet and training units.
The Blackjack, built by Boeing’s Insitu, is a twin-boom, single-engine, small tactical unmanned aerial vehicle that carries modular payloads mostly for surveillance. It is pneumatically launched and is recovered using a skyhook arrestment system. A single Blackjack system includes five UAVs, two ground control stations, various payloads and a set of launch and recovery systems.
The Blackjack now equips four Marine UAV squadrons plus a fleet replacement detachment. The Marine Corps deploys the Blackjack with its Marine expeditionary units onboard amphibious warfare ships. The 10 systems for the Navy have been delivered to Navy Special Warfare Command and made two deployments in 2019.
Neville said the Blackjack has demonstrated “great reliability.”
He said that with fielding complete, his office is concentrating on sustainment of the Blackjack and also on Foreign Military Sales. Two nations, Canada and Poland, have procured the Blackjack and Neville said there are more possible sales “on the horizon.” Foreign sales will help to bring down the cost of the Blackjack, he said. (Source: UAS VISION/Seapower)
23 Jan 20. $1m Grant for Israel-US Drone Project. The BIRD Foundation, a binational research and industrial development fund that promotes cooperation between US and Israeli companies, has approved a $1m investment for a joint project between BWR Israel and Easy Aerial USA to develop a multi-mission command and control system for unmanned aerial vehicles for national security operations.
The project was selected by the US Department of Homeland Security and Israel’s Internal Security Ministry as part of the BIRD HLS program, which develops advanced homeland security technologies.
The collaboration between BWR Israel and Easy Aerial USA will allow one operator to simultaneously operate multiple drones with several different tasks from an advanced command center, and will be available for every type of autonomous air vehicle.
BWR (Blue White Robotics) develops multi-mission command and control systems for various types of UAVs, operates autonomous systems and provides end-to-end robots as service solutions in agriculture, security, search and rescue, and other fields, utilizing control systems capable of managing hundreds of autonomous vehicles.
Easy Aerial, located in Brooklyn, designs and manufactures automated drones and ground control systems. The system allows for takeoff, landing, and charging of the drones without human intervention.
Ben Alfi, founder and CEO of BWR said, “With this support, BWR will launch two control centers in Israel and the United States and will continue to develop and lead the world in autonomous systems operation. Receiving the BIRD HLS grant will lead the autonomous future and bring it into commercialization to meet the professional needs of first responders in Israel and the United States.” (Source: UAS VISION/Jerusalem Post)
21 Jan 20. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) on November 19, 2019 completed the first in a series of internally-funded Multi-Domain Operations (MDO) demonstrations using a company-owned Gray Eagle Extended Range (GE-ER) Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS). The flight series will continue in 2020 and show that a GE-ER equipped with long-range sensors and Air Launched Effects (ALE) is able to Detect, Identify, Locate and Report (DILR) targetable data to support Long Range Precision Fires (LRPF) systems.
“Gray Eagle ER is a critical tool, along with the Army’s manned platforms, for operations in an MDO environment,” said David R. Alexander, president, GA-ASI. “We’re excited to show the capability Gray Eagle ER provides due to its increased endurance and range, with the addition of high Technology Readiness Level [TLR] long range sensors and ALE.”
Equipped with the combat-proven Lynx Block 30A Long Range Synthetic Aperture Radar/Ground Moving Target Indicator (SAR/GMTI), the GE-ER was able to detect military targets out to a range of 75 km. The Lynx SAR imagery produces precise coordinates with every image, cueing to aviation assets or enabling direct engagement with LRPF. The Lynx SAR has modes for Ground Moving Target Indicator (GMTI), Dismount Detection on the Dismount Moving Target Indicator (DMTI), Maritime Detection and Maritime Identification with Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar (ISAR). This combination of modes supports MDO operations over land or sea in the Pacific and European theatres.
All flights and future demonstrations will be controlled exclusively using GA-ASI Scalable Command & Control (SC2) software hosted on a laptop computer, drastically reducing the system’s logistical footprint and supporting the Army’s vision for interfaces to the aircraft from across the battlefield without the need for a Ground Control Station shelter or vehicle.
Demonstrations planned in 2020 include integration of additional long range and MDO relevant sensors, communications packages, and launching of ALE from the aircraft. Serving as an ALE mothership, the GE-ER will carry multiple ALEs with a variety of capabilities. The launching and controlling of ALEs from GE-ER could potentially increase the survivability and effectiveness of current and future manned aviation systems with intelligence, targeting, communications, jammers, decoys and kinetic effects.
GE-ER is a long-range variant of the U.S. Army’s MQ-1C Gray Eagle UAS. It provides the U.S. Army with increased endurance, more payload capacity to support future mission tasking, and considerable improvements in system reliability and maintainability.
21 Jan 20. Hermes 900 MALE UAV enters service with Philippine Air Force. The Philippine Air Force (PAF) has begun operating the Elbit Systems Hermes 900 medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Images of two of the nine Hermes 900 platforms ordered from Israel have been circulating on social media since November 2019, with a video emerging a few days later showing one of the platforms in flight bearing PAF markings. The procurement of the MALE UAVs is part of the PAF’s ongoing modernisation programme, which also includes the acquisition of three Hermes 450 long-endurance tactical UAVs, two of which were handed over in August 2019. Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana confirmed the delivery of the Hermes 450s in September 2019. (Source: Jane’s)
20 Jan 20. Fulmar Chooses UAV Navigation Autopilots. Fulmar is a marinized UAV developed by the Spanish manufacturer Wake Engineering (formerly known as Aerovision). This unique UAV can be launched from a vessel and is currently used by the Spanish Army, among others. Fulmar makes use of a powerful flight control system that was developed by UAV Navigation, yet another Spanish company.
UAV Navigation’s autopilot powers up this 3-meter wingspan that was exclusively developed for ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance) operations. Further, the Fulmar can handle between 6 to 12 hours endurance, 20 kilograms MTOW and 80-kilometer range. Therefore, Fulmar required a flight control system or autopilot system that was both powerful and precise. This Herculean task was shouldered by UAV Navigation — a company that worked on the Fulmar project right from the start. In fact, the collaboration between Wake Engineering and UAV Navigation began with Fulmar and was subsequently extended due to outstanding results.
During these years of close collaboration, the companies have worked hand-in-glove to resolve various technical complexities involved in designing a flight control system, that suffices the very specific needs of this marinized UAV that is fully functional on the land. For example, the flight control system of Fulmar facilitated fixed net landing on a moving vessel or land-based landing. After all, Fulmar was designed to be launched in a unique way, which is by catapulting it from land or from a ship, and later landing it on a fixed net. This kind of launch required very high precision due to the movements experienced in the sea. To overcome this challenge, a team of engineers had to make use of the mobile one RTK technology to launch Fulmar from the ship. Once achieved, the companies shifted their focus on enhancing the capabilities of this UAV and making it capable of landing on moving platforms. Therefore, designing a flight control system that could help achieve all of that wasn’t easy and required an expert team.
However, the end result was impressive and currently, UAV Navigation’s flight control system enables Fulmar to perform complete autonomous operations. Lauding UAV Navigation’s dedication and support, Borja Comino, CEO of Wake Engineering commented
“What I appreciate the most about working with UAV Navigation is how they listen to us, gather our requirements and meet the planned deadlines.” The success of the Fulmar project built a high level of confidence between Wake Engineering and UAV Navigation. Comino further commented that “UAV Navigation has been instrumental in improving Fulmar’s performance so far and we are definitely looking forward to strengthening our collaboration in the future.” This collaboration evidences the technological potential of UAV Navigation as well as the outstanding capabilities of the Fulmar developed by Wake Engineering, a pioneer in the UAS manufacturing industry. (Source: UAS VISION)
20 Jan 20. Falco Xplorer UAV makes maiden flight. Leonardo flew its Falco Xplorer unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for the first time on 15 January, the company announced. The approximately one-hour flight saw the medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) UAV depart Trapani Air Force Base on Sicily before returning to the same location.
As noted by Leonardo, the Falco Xplorer, which combines endurance of over 24 hours, a maximum payload of 350 kg, and a service ceiling of 30,000 ft, will now embark on a series of flight tests to assess the aircraft’s full range of capabilities including its integrated sensor system.
Revealed at the Paris Air Show in June 2019, the Falco Xplorer is 9 m long, has a wingspan of 18.5 m, and is powered by a single Rotax engine. It utilises an evolution of the ground control system used on the earlier iterations of the Falco family, while the baseline sensor fit comprises a Gabbiano T-80UL multimode synthetic aperture radar that can undertake mapping and ground moving target indication, as well as a LEOSS gyro-stabilised electro-optic turret and a SAGE signals intelligence (SIGINT) suite. While weapons could be integrated, Leonardo has stated that this is not currently planned for the platform. (Source: Jane’s)
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The British Robotics Seed Fund is the first SEIS-qualifying investment fund specialising in UK-based robotics businesses. The focus of the fund is to deliver superior returns to investors by making targeted investments in a mixed basket of the most innovative and disruptive businesses that are exploiting the new generation of robotics technologies in defence and other sector applications.
Automation and robotisation are beginning to drive significant productivity improvements in the global economy heralding a new industrial revolution. The fund allows investors to benefit from this exciting opportunity, whilst also delivering the extremely attractive tax reliefs offered by the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS). For many private investors, the amount of specialist knowledge required to assess investments in robotics is not practical and hence investing through a fund structure makes good sense.
The fund appoints expert mentors to work with each investee company to further maximise the chance of success for investors. Further details are available on request.
www.britbots.com/fund
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