WE’RE LOOKING AT SOMETHING THAT WILL
FLY 12-PLUS HOURS AND CARRY AROUND 1,000 POUNDS
OF SENSOR WEIGHT. THE
INTENT IS TO GET NEAR FIXED- WING PERFORMANCE OUT OF A VERTICAL-LIFT PLATFORM.
COMMON CAPABILITIES
“All these systems are tied together by a common architecture and tend to oper- ate off of the UGCS [Universal Ground Control Station] or the mini UGCS and provide open protocols between the manned and unmanned fleet as well, so it’s not just stand-alone systems,” Owings said. “It’s really a collection of capabilities.”
Each system is set up for different ech- elons, from squad leader all the way up to division level, said CW3 Frank Volpe, an 18-year UAS operator and combat
LOADING A GRAY EAGLE
HELLFIRE missiles are loaded onto an MQ-1C Gray Eagle at Camp Taji, Iraq. The Gray Eagle successfully demonstrated Level of Interoper- ability 4 in August. (U.S. Army photo by 1LT Jason Sweeney.)
”
veteran who is qualified on the Gray Eagle, Shadow, Raven, and Hunter platforms.
“They actually have different mission sets. However, the platforms themselves have the ability to go up a level or down, all the way to the ground Soldier,” he said.
“They each have their individual capabili- ties, some more capable than others with endurance and payloads onboard. It’s basically mission-dependent, which one is really better.”
MUM-T is not a new concept in the Army, but the capability was not readily embraced initially when testing began. Volpe recalled testing conducted in 1996, when his unit laser-designated for the Apaches and talked to the Apache pilots. At the time, he said, the Army was not yet receptive to UAS as a part of Army avia- tion. “We weren’t ready,” Volpe said.
Since then, “We’ve garnered a lot of effi- ciencies, with the radios onboard the aircraft talking to the pilots,” Volpe said, adding that the ultimate test of UAS is in the hands of Soldiers. The radios are the link to the warfighter and are key to suc- cess in combat operations, he said.
MUM-T has been tried and tested in theater with great success, beginning with the Apache’s VUIT-2 system, which allows for UAS video to be displayed in the cockpit of the aircraft and for the Apache’s sensor video to be transmitted to Soldiers on the ground.
The utility of UAS has expanded sig- nificantly, Volpe said. “It’s not just the rotary-wing pilots anymore. It’s about the fixed-wing Air Force folks that we talk with all the way down to the ground Soldier, the route clearance teams that are making supply routes safe.”
CONCLUSION As the Army continues to train Soldiers, they are learning a lot about UAS and are exchanging information on what can make the systems better.
Attendees at the Unmanned Aircraft Sys- tems Warfighter Forum included UAS operators from 19 units, including Army National Guard and U.S. Marine Corps representatives, 20 Army and DOD orga- nizations, four other government agencies, and five of the UAS Project Office origi- nal equipment manufacturers.
Crosby encouraged the audience to learn from one another. “Build on those syner- gies to make these systems better,” he said.
Calling Army Aviation the ground Soldier’s critical enabler, Crosby said, “What I care about is that everything we do is focused on getting that data to those guys down there.”
MICHELLE VIGO is a Systems Engineer in the Common Systems Integration (CSI) Product Office, PM UAS. She also serves as the Pre-Planned Product Improvement and the 2011 MUSIC Exercise Lead for CSI. She holds a B.S. in engineering from the University of Alabama in Huntsville.
AS
C.ARMY.MI L 43
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ACQUISITION
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