Down to earth - Shephard Media

Down to earthCountering weaponised UAVs

UNMANNED VEHICLES

VOLUME 22 NUMBER 4 AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2017WWW.UVONLINE.COM

HALE STORMHigh-altitude operations

COMBAT CAPABILITIESUSVs at the sharp end

GROWING PAINSCommercial market saturation

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CONTENTS

WWW.UVONLINE.COM VOLUME 22 NUMBER 4 AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2017 UNMANNED VEHICLES 1

EditorRichard Thomas [email protected] Tel: +44 (0)20 3179 2591

Asia-Pacific EditorGordon Arthur [email protected]

Staff ReporterBeth Maundrill [email protected]

Editorial Assistant Alice Budge

ContributorsClaire Apthorp, Pieter Bastiaans, Angus Batey, Chen Chuanren, Gerrard Cowan, Erwan de Cherisey, Peter Donaldson, Rory Jackson, Neelam Mathews, Jon Rosamond, Beth Stevenson, Heidi Vella, Andrew White

Production and Circulation ManagerDavid Hurst [email protected] Tel: +44 (0)20 3179 2579

Sub-editorsElaine Effard, Georgina Smith, Adam Wakeling

Graphic DesignerKam Bains

VP Business Development Mike Wild [email protected] Tel: +44 (0)20 3179 2589

Editor-in-ChiefTony Skinner

Head of Advertising SalesKevin Bethell [email protected] Tel: +44 (0)20 3179 2587

Managing DirectorDarren Lake

ChairmanNick Prest

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CONTENTS

FEATURE35 IN THE WRONG HANDS With the proliferation of COTS UAVs employed

by violent extremist organisations in the Middle East, the defence and security sector continues to ramp up capabilities to not only detect such threats before they have even occurred, but effectively counter them.

FEATURE40 AUTONOMY AT SEA As global interest is increasing in the use of

unmanned systems for naval mine countermeasures operations, UV assesses the progression of the sector over the last year and the resulting programmes that are on the horizon.

INTERVIEW

44 PHASE CHANGE As DARPA’s Gremlins programme advances,

Tim Keeter, deputy programme manager and chief engineer for the project at Dynetics, spoke to UV about his company’s approach to the competition.

3 EDITORIAL COMMENT Evolving threat

4 NEWS • SeaGuardian in sonobuoy tests

• CH-5 ready for series production • Counter-UAS options continue to grow • Diminished returns for UK equipment • Anka on path to commercial market • Additional payload requirement for MEUAS II

FEATURE8 HALE STORM While the MALE market has gained real traction,

OEMs are promising even greater advantages with HALE UAVs, and are striving to ensure these benefits are manifest to potential operators.

FEATURE14 GROWING PAINS In recent years, there has been an incredible

increase in platforms, payload and potential use cases in commercial applications of unmanned systems. However, with sector saturation a real risk, is the market big enough for everyone to have their cake and eat it?

FEATURE21 FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION The industry is evolving as a result of the

growing range of applications for unmanned systems, with platforms being designed to accommodate increasingly more unusual payloads.

FEATURE29 COMBAT CAPABILITIES While weaponisation of UAVs is now routine,

arming marine surface systems is still in its relative infancy.

Front cover: A modified ISIS drone lies on the ground after being shot down by the Iraqi Army in February 2017. (Photo: Berci Feher via ZUMA Wire)

Page 29

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It makes sense that unmanned technologies have migrated across the traditional battlefield and into asymmetric use by a variety of non-state actors, terror groups and secessionists.

The ease of acquisition and use of such systems have presented organisations such as ISIS with capabilities that not too long ago would have been unthinkable, both in terms of intelligence and surveillance, but also increasingly in rudimentary strike roles.

What has also been interesting to follow is the race to find ways to disrupt their use through increasingly more complex and sophisticated methods. One company spokesperson told UV that single-equipment counter-UAS capabilities are at risk of becoming inefficient as the threat evolves at the same pace as the technology being developed to deter it (see p35).

Tactical disadvantageOne only has to look at the economic value of converting a simple drone that costs no more than a few hundred dollars into a relatively stealthy weapon, to see why UAVs are viewed as force multipliers by non-state actor organisations. This is emphasised by the notion that a successful strike can damage or destroy equipment worth tens of thousands of dollars, not to mention the physical and psychological threats for soldiers and operators on the ground.

Judging by what we can see from promotional material published by ISIS after operations, a range of payloads are

also being developed – ‘dumb’ munitions in the sense that they are unguided, but capable of effecting significant damage when dropped from a height of just a couple of hundred metres.

Insurgent conversations in the deep web of chatrooms and Internet lounges point towards the ambition (or perhaps hope, as it is difficult to quantify intent and ability through written words) to deploy chemical and biological payloads. Therefore although rudimentary in nature, the notion of a small quadrotor, unheard above the din of ground activities, effectively carrying or becoming a dirty bomb is one forces have to be aware of.

At present, the number of counter-UAS systems available is insufficient to cover every unit deployed on the ground in Iraq and Syria. While the technology will undoubtedly develop at some point in the future, terror groups currently hold a significant advantage over the traditional military forces deployed against them. UV explores this topic further (see p35), detailing the methods being used by terrorists in order to coordinate and cover up their planning efforts.

Rogue flightsElsewhere, and bringing things back to the commercial sector, recent reports indicate that the UK could be putting together drone registration legislation that requires civil operators to have their details recorded in some kind of database. Similar sounding to the Part 107 rules introduced in the US, the proposed UK law could encounter some of

the same problems in terms of implementation, due to the sheer quantity of systems sold each year.

The move is of course driven by safety and adding a certain amount of accountability into the lexicon of the drone operator, who may then think twice about sending their latest gadget thousands of feet into the air just to get a good shot of Heathrow approaches.

Or maybe not. If an operator, a rogue in modern unmanned parlance, is flying over urban areas near manned aviation (we’ve all seen the Tel Aviv footage), how likely is it that that person will sign up voluntarily to a database, particularly if they are monetising the footage distributed on social media?

One suspects that any legislation will really serve as a reminder that drone operators are responsible for their activities in much the same way as those of manned aviation, in terms of ensuring a safe and responsible flight. The real test will be in convincing people to sign up, and if they don’t, ensuring that the stick on the other end reminds them that it’s better if they do. ▪

• UAS mapping

• Tactical UAS

• EOD ROVs

• Commercial business units

In the next issue

Richard Thomas, Editor

Evolving threat

COMMENT

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NEWS

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SeaGuardian in sonobuoy testsIt has been confirmed that early-stage tests have been carried out by manufacturer General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) to give the SeaGuardian UAS a sonobuoy deployment capability.

In January this year, the company revealed new names for its Certifiable Predator B system, reflecting the role each platform is expected to undertake once in service. The SkyGuardian variant can fly in excess of 35h with airspeeds up to 210kt and reach altitudes of over 45,000ft.

The maritime patrol variant of the system, designated SeaGuardian, is designed to support open-ocean and littoral surface surveillance for border patrol, coast guard and disaster relief missions.

According to GA-ASI, three company-owned aircraft will be built along with two airframes designed specifically for full-scale

fatigue and static testing to satisfy type-certification requirements. Delivery of the first production aircraft is expected in 2018.

The aircraft can host a variety of sensor and communications payloads and is capable of transmitting high-resolution video to manned aircraft and ground forces.

A GA-ASI spokesperson told UV that the sonobuoy tests on the SeaGuardian were ‘preliminary’ at this stage and the length of the programme was also ‘still to be determined’. It is not known what type of sonobuoy will be integrated on the SeaGuardian.

The spokesperson added that ‘there has been some customer demand’ for the provision of ASW/subsurface detection capability, although they declined to provide further comment.

Optional mission equipment for the SeaGuardian will include multi-mode

maritime surface search radar and AIS. The SkyGuardian is stated as having optional precision-guided munitions in the weaponised version.

In recent years, the USN has awarded ERAPSCO, a joint venture between Sparton Corporation and Ultra Electronics Holdings, a series of contracts to produce tens of thousands of sonobuoys, including the AN/SSQ-36, AN/SSQ-53 and AN/SSQ-125 types. In 2016, ERAPSCO was awarded a $203.7 million contract modification to build up to 141,500 sonobuoys for USN operations.

The provision of a sonobuoy deployment capability for the SeaGuardian is likely to enhance its chances of future export sales, with a number of Western militaries already well accustomed to operating the predecessors of the newer variants.By Richard Thomas, London

The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) flew its first serial production version of the CH-5 UAV on 14 July in northern Hebei Province. This milestone for the Caihong 5 (which means ‘Rainbow’) MALE platform means it is now ready for full-scale production for the Chinese military and/or the export market.

Ou Zhongming, the CH project manager, told the China Daily that the design was now finalised, and that CASC was discussing potential sales with customers of existing CH-family UAVs. Known users include Iraq, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

The company claims that the CH-5, which is 11m in length and has a 21m wingspan, is on par with the General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper in terms of endurance and payload. It can carry

200kg internally plus 1,000kg on external hardpoints.

The aircraft was unveiled to the world at last year’s Zhuhai air show and is claimed to have 60h endurance and 2,000km ferry range when a SATCOM data link is used. Potential military missions for the CH-5 include surveillance, C2, electronic warfare and submarine detection.

Last year an export licence was awarded to CASC for the type, which achieved its maiden flight in August 2015. Shi Wen, chief engineer of the Rainbow project, said: ‘We’ve made

several modifications after its debut, and its comprehensive functions are among the world’s best… We will conduct more trial flights and might add fine changes to meet needs of various customers. We believe it will be a success in domestic and international markets.’

China produces a wide range of precision-guided munitions and missiles, so the CH-5 would give buyers a long-range surveillance and armed capability. It can also share data link and control systems with existing platforms such as the CH-3 and CH-4.

With countries like the US cautious about who it sells strike-capable UAVs to, China has readily and capably filled the void, selling armed UAVs to nations and regimes, some of which have somewhat dubious credentials.By Gordon Arthur, Hong Kong

CH-5 ready for series production

Photo: Xinhua

Photo: GA-ASI

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NEWS


Counter-UAS options continue to growThe increasing popularity of drones, in all shapes and sizes, has brought to light a whole assortment of new security threats, including the growing hazard of unmanned systems being used by capable non-state actors.

Matters have also been driven by the need to find cost-effective solutions for use against small UAS where otherwise higher-end missile defence capabilities might instead be used. In 2016, for example, two Patriot missiles were fired at a UAV that had crossed into Israel from Syria, missing their target, at a cost of $3 million per missile.

Industry has moved to meet this challenge, with one Israeli company stating that its system has been tested by a range of regions and countries, including in the US, Europe and Asia.

ORAD’s military-grade solution, the DROM DDS, can detect approaching drones more than 3.5km away, the company told UV. The system can then identify the UAV type, disrupt its flying

A reduction in the number of platforms that services have at their disposal is a recurring theme for the UK armed forces, as outlined in the ‘Equipment and Formations’ document published by the MoD on 6 July.

With the withdrawal of the Black Hornet from service this year, there were 281 UAS as of 1 April 2017, a 37% reduction since

last year. The majority of remaining systems are the Desert Hawk III type.

The Black Hornet nano-UAS was operated extensively in Afghanistan by UK forces, acting as short-range information gatherers to units deployed on the ground. It was also revealed that the system could be one of those in the running for a Danish special forces requirement.

It emerged last year that BAE Systems Hägglunds was looking into integrating the Black Hornet into CV90 armoured vehicles, as it refined its BattleView 360 concept.

FLIR Systems acquired the manufacturer of the Black Hornet, Norway-based Prox Dynamics, in a $134 million deal in late 2016. A full system of two UAS and the control capability is thought to cost around $50,000.

An MoD spokesperson told UV that with the end of combat operations in Afghanistan ‘and the move to meet the goals identified in

Photo: ORAD

Photo: UK MoD

Diminished returns for UK equipment

For more news, visit www.uvonline.com

SDSR 2015 and Joint Force 2025’, the requirement for the Black Hornet’s capability was ‘diminished’.

It was revealed that the RAF’s Typhoon multirole fighter is the most prolific fixed-wing platform, with 137 of the type in the inventory as of 1 April. In total, 714 fixed-wing aircraft were recorded, ten fewer than in 2016. However, a few additions have been made to the RAF, including the formation of a new squadron and five additional Typhoon aircraft.

The UK’s military rotary fleet also saw its stock drop, with an overall reduction of 19 in number (from 372 in 2016 to 353 for 2017), representing a 5% cut.By Alice Budge and Richard Thomas, London

ability and neutralise the immediate threat.

Yossi Gofer, VP of marketing at ORAD, explained that the mobile 38kg system can be deployed on land or at sea and has an effective neutralisation range of 2km. Gofer added that it can also identify the location of the drone operator.

According to Gofer, the system has been extensively tested in the US by ‘unnamed authorities’, as well as organisations in Denmark, Germany, Poland, Italy, Portugal and Thailand, the latter three of which are also now operators. The company is also in talks with Israeli agencies interested in purchasing the system, Gofer confirmed.

The DROM DDS is capable of piloting targeted craft to pre-defined locations after interception to allow for follow-on intelligence gathering. The system features a 3D pulse-Doppler radar with an azimuth mechanical scan (rotating) and elevation electrical scan (linear phased array).By Joe Charlaff, Jerusalem

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NEWS


Anka on path to commercial marketWhile Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) showcased the weaponised version of its Anka UAV at the Paris Air Show, the company said that it is also looking at the commercial market for the aircraft. Omer Yidiz, executive VP of unmanned systems at TAI, said: ‘We are planning to sell to the world for civil operations like border surveillance.’

TAI is carrying out various work on the system, including on the engine and propeller, and new wings are being integrated to improve lift. ‘We want to make the improvements so [the Anka] can stay longer in the air,’ confirmed Yidiz. The company will have a commercial variant ready in 12 to 18 months.

TAI advertises the UAV as having 24h endurance and a service ceiling of 30,000ft. The MALE UAV currently uses a 115hp heavy fuel engine.

TAI is on track to deliver the first four of a total of ten Anka-S aircraft to the Turkish Air Force by the end of 2017 and the final six in 2018. The company also signed a contract

in 2016 to supply the UAV to the Turkish Ministry of Interior, although the number of units has not been disclosed. The contracts are for surveillance and reconnaissance only, but since weaponry has now been integrated and tested on the Anka, TAI is looking at future sales of armed variants.

The Anka display at the Paris Air Show included systems from Turkish munitions manufacturer Roketsan, including laser-guided smart micro-munitions MAM-L. Another option is the Cirit guided missile.

However, the optional weapons could reduce the endurance of the UAV, due to the requirement for the integration of FLIR and wide-area surveillance cameras.

TAI first showcased the integrated weapon systems at the IDEF exhibition in Istanbul in May 2017. The first flight of the Anka-S variant was completed in 2015. The aircraft has a wingspan of 17.3m, a payload capacity of 200kg and a data-link range of 200km.By Beth Maundrill, Paris

On 14 June, Textron Systems was selected to compete for Mid-Endurance Unmanned Aircraft Systems (MEUAS) III task orders from USSOCOM, which will enable the company to put itself forward for future UAS-based tasking orders. It is eligible to provide contractor-owned, contractor-operated operations with its Aerosonde UAS.

MEUAS III is a follow-on contract for UAS ISR services supporting SOF operations at multiple international sites. It includes planning, coordination, certification, installation, pre-deployment, deployment, logistics, maintenance, flying operations and post-deployment efforts.

On 8 June, the company became one of four to be awarded a firm fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for sea- and land-based UAS ISR services in support of the DoD and other US government agencies by US Naval Air Systems Command.

According to the Pentagon, the aggregate amount for all contracts over the next five years is $1.73 billion, with the companies having an opportunity to compete for individual task orders.

Speaking to UV, David Phillips, VP of small- and medium-endurance UAS at Textron Systems Unmanned Systems, said that additional requirements had evolved for the MEUAS III.

‘The change is for more payload capability, with the USN putting this requirement into the proposal,’ he said, adding that the specific payloads were classified. The requirement stated that

the platform must be capable of conducting ten hours of on-target operations (outside of any transit time).

The continued evolution of the Aerosonde is a key aim for the company, Phillips said, with a multi-year plan in place to keep the platform relevant and able to provide such mission capabilities. The development of the hybrid quad – a VTOL-capable version of the Aerosonde – is a prime example of this, he added. ‘For navies and coast guards, some of them want two helicopters on deck so there is no room left for launch and recovery systems. We are working to keep our products ahead of the curve and it is very important we look five to ten years ahead.’

Textron Systems is one of only two companies – the other being Insitu – permitted to compete for both land- and sea-based task orders.By Richard Thomas, Paris

Additional payload requirement for MEUAS III

Photo: Textron Systems

Photo: author

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HALE/HAPS


While the MALE market has gained real traction, OEMs are promising even greater advantages with HALE UAVs, and are striving to ensure these benefits are manifest to potential operators. By Beth Stevenson

U AVs flying at high altitudes offer a number of benefits to surveillance operations, not least because

they operate at heights that are generally unaffected by other air traffic, but also because they fly at a point in the atmosphere that is often difficult for adversaries to detect.

HALE UAVs have a clear worth in military operations as they can watch over an area in a relatively stealthy manner, but the technological

Standard settingHow high these aircraft should fly in order to be classified as a HALE is not set in stone, but a standard measure of this is the operating ceiling of the Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk, arguably the most well-known of this class of system, reaching altitudes of 60,000ft for 32h at a time.

In operation since 2001, when it was rapidly brought into service to support Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, Global Hawk is considered the benchmark of HALE UAVs. It is in service with the USAF and NASA, having collectively – along with a number of demonstrators –flown a total of 200,000 flight hours asof mid-2016.

It is now deployed in support of Operation Inherent Resolve in the Middle

STORM

sophistication required to keep an aircraft flying at such a height for long periods of time – typically over 24h – is an engineering feat that few have achieved.

To this end, HALE UAVs sit literally and figuratively above their MALE counterparts, a much more prolific and penetrated segment of the market. Only a handful of programmes have managed to develop true HALE capabilities that can provide the required endurance, and there is a vast variation in these few designs.

NASA has used the Global Hawk for its hurricane and weather monitoring operations. (Photo: NASA)

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Surveillance effort. This was agreed upon during the alliance’s May 2012 summit in Chicago, when a $1.7 billion deal was signed for the acquisition of the Block 40 variants integrated with the Northrop-Raytheon Multi-Platform Radar Technology Insertion Program sensor. The first one was rolled out of Northrop’s Palmdale, California facility in June 2015, followed by a first flight in December of the same year.

While IOC was originally touted for December 2017, with full operational capability to follow in 2018, the ferry flight and subsequent delivery to Sigonella air base in Sicily where the fleet will be based is yet to be made. Northrop told UV that it was not able to discuss the upcoming NATO delivery at present.

Aside from NATO and the two US customers for the type, South Korea will be the next to receive the UAV, having ordered four under a December 2014 FMS. Lyons said that the Korean aircraft are currently in production and Seoul is set to receive the first example in 2018.

In November 2015, a sale to Japan was also authorised by the US State Department, although a contract for this is yet to be signed.

‘Northrop Grumman is working closely with the US and Japanese governments to deliver critically needed intelligence gathering capabilities through the Global Hawk system,’ Lyons offered.

The US government authorised the sale of three examples under a deal worth a potential $1.2 billion for the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, plus inertial navigation systems, GPS, communications systems and training.

Eyeing hawksA derivative of Global Hawk in partnership with Airbus Defence & Space, Euro Hawk, was previously developed to fill the gap left by Germany’s Breguet Atlantic maritime patrol/SIGINT aircraft retirement, but delays and costs associated with the development of the UAV led to the effort being canned in 2013.

Germany continued to seek the best option for its SIGINT requirement to no avail, so decided to restart some testing of the one Euro Hawk airframe that had entered storage, with the intention of incorporating some of the developments

SYERS-2C testing is complete, Lyons noted, and integration of the Optical Bar Camera onto the Global Hawk will restart in 2019.

Global Hawk will be the first aircraft to fly operationally with MS-177, and testing of a seven-band multispectral version of the sensor began in May 2017. Lyons said that developmental testing was continuing and is expected to conclude ‘later this summer’.

Eventually Global Hawk will carry a ten-band version of the sensor, which is anticipated to begin testing once the current system is certified. Initial operational capability (IOC) for the new sensor will be achieved with the seven-band and full operational capability (FOC) with the ten-band version.

‘The US Air Force is scheduled to conduct operational testing this fall, and we expect an initial operational capacity decision by the end of 2017,’ Lyons added.

NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in California operates one Global Hawk for scientific research, which is a developmental former USAF example manufactured under the original programme that was sponsored by DARPA. A number of other former USAF aircraft are also used for spares and as a potential reserve for future missions.

Under the administration’s Airborne Science Program, the Global Hawk collects atmospheric measurements and high-resolution imagery, and tests new sensors for potential use in a space environment.

NASA also uses its Global Hawk to support work carried out by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, including hurricane monitoring for the US.

Additionally, NATO is on course to receive five examples under its Alliance Ground

East in EQ-4B configuration, which is a Global Hawk modified to carry Northrop’s Battlefield Airborne Communication Node (BACN). This provides the UAV with the ability to act as a communications relay node, connecting different ground elements together, and is additionally operated by the air force on board four Bombardier E-11A aircraft.

All three USAF EQ-4Bs are deployed in support of Inherent Resolve and in May 2017 it was announced that another example will be added to its fleet. This will be a retrofitted RQ-4, with work to be completed by May 2018, according to the US DoD notice announcing the $39.9 million contract award.

‘Work is under way, but the timeline for completion is pending the completion of contract negotiations,’ Mike Lyons, business development lead for the Global Hawk programme at Northrop, told UV. He added that demand for BACN is increasing, but deferred further comment to the air force.

Global Hawk has been selected to take over the role currently carried out by the manned Lockheed Martin U-2 Dragon Lady HALE aircraft – although the government is still undecided on the retirement date of the U-2 – and there is work under way to migrate the sensors from this platform to the UAV.

Testing timeThe U-2 carries the UTC Optical Bar Camera and Senior Year Electro-optical Reconnaissance System (SYERS-2C) that have been test flown on board the Global Hawk, and the UAV is expected to carry the next generation of the SYERS-2C, the MS-177.

This image shows two different variants of the Zephyr HAPS system being developed by Airbus D&S. (Image: Airbus D&S)

HALE/HAPS

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that had been made within the overall Global Hawk family programme since the German effort was cancelled.

The aircraft was taken out of storage to undergo maintenance in 2016 ahead of a return to flight, but a decision was made in 2017 for Germany to instead opt for another Global Hawk variant, the maritime-enabled MQ-4C Triton.

Three examples are expected to be integrated with the Airbus SIGINT sensor that was originally planned for use on Euro Hawk, with the Triton understood to be more fitting for Germany’s requirements in terms of potential for airspace integration through a sense and avoid system, de-icing capability and lightning protection.

The USN is the only contracted customer for the Triton variant, and the first pre-production operational aircraft – B-5 – is due to be delivered to the service in September. The four aircraft built before this one are B-1 and B-2 that are used for testing by the navy, B-3 that is Northrop-owned but lent to the navy indefinitely, and B-4 – a fatigue test aircraft.

The delivery of B-5 will be closely followed by the second pre-production example, B-6, Tom Twomey, senior business development manager at Northrop, told UV, ahead of the first deployment of the two aircraft to Andersen AFB in Guam in the western Pacific in 2018.

Operation of these first two aircraft will allow the navy to declare early

operational capability (EOC) with Triton in 2018. IOC is planned for 2021 and FOC expected four years after that and will be subject to one operating base comprising four aircraft being operational, while FOC will see all five bases operating their fleets. The programme of record for the USN covers 68 examples.

In addition to Guam, the other four base locations will be: Sigonella; Naval Station Mayport in Florida; NAS Point Mugu in California; and an undisclosed Middle Eastern base.

C2 infrastructure will be established at both NAS Whidbey Island in Washington and NAS Jacksonville in Florida, although aircraft will not be stationed at these locations.

A Milestone C approval awarded in September saw the programme enter low- rate initial production (LRIP), and a Lot 1 contract of this type was awarded in the same month, which will see three aircraft – B-7, B-8 and B-9 – produced under a deal worth some $255 million, which Twomey said are in the early stages of being built.

A Lot 2 LRIP has recently been signed that will cover three further aircraft, he added, as well as provisions for long lead parts for three more aircraft that will come under Lot 3. The first two expected to be delivered in September come under the LRIP Lot 1 deal.

‘We’re shooting for that [September delivery] right now,’ Twomey said. ‘I can’t

give an exact date… but give or take a couple of weeks either side.

‘If we are going to do a September delivery, then first flight has got to happen in the August timeframe,’ he added, noting that this first flight will be conducted from the company’s Palmdale facility.

‘We worked with the FAA [Federal Aviation Administration] a few years ago with Global Hawk to be able to take off and land at Palmdale, which makes it far more efficient, so that will probably be the first flight,’ he noted. ‘There may be additional ones as needed, and then once we’re ready and the navy is ready to accept the airplane at Point Mugu, we’ll do that. When it’s all lined up – and it’s lining up right now [although] lots of things have to happen – it will happen shortly after that around the September time frame.’

Sensing success?The configuration in which Triton will be delivered includes the Multi-Function Active Sensor active electronically scanned array radar, which is an X-band, 360°-surveillance sensor. It will also include a Raytheon-developed EO/IR pod, as well as electronic support measures and an automatic identification system capability for vessel recognition.

Planning is in place for a so-called IFC 4 standard for the aircraft, which will allow it to carry out more multi-intelligence surveillance. ‘The navy is going to modify

HALE/HAPSA Triton seen over NAS Patuxent River last year. (Photo: Northrop Grumman)

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HALE/HAPS


the aircraft in the future so that it becomes multi-int,’ Twomey noted. ‘We’re working with the navy to define what will be in IFC 4. Eventually all of the aircraft will become multi-int and more capable.’

While the new standard is not yet settled on, capabilities the navy has declared that it wants to eventually incorporate into Triton include a sense and avoid capability and SIGINT sensing, but it is yet to be determined if these will come in at IFC 4, or even an IFC 5 standard. EOC for a multi-int capability is targeted for 2020, Twomey said, while IOC will be in 2021 in line with the overseeing Triton programme’s own IOC.

Under the terms of the current planning, three Triton UAVs are expected to be produced per year, although Twomey said that there is capacity to flex the production line accordingly should an export customer wish to acquire the type.

The RAAF is one such potential customer, having announced that it is considering a

purchase of seven Tritons to complement its fleet of Boeing P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, just as the USN has done.

A contract is yet to be signed for the Australian purchase, as Canberra was waiting on developments within the USN programme before fully committing. The seven-strong fleet would be based out of RAAF Base Edinburgh, the service has previously stated.

It is unclear at what point the RAAF will decide whether to proceed further, and Northrop could not provide comment, although Twomey noted that the Triton is a ‘good fit’ for the nation in terms of its range, endurance and sensor offerings.

On the other HAPSAnother HALE offering that is seeing traction is the Airbus Defence & Space Zephyr-S high-altitude pseudo satellite (HAPS). While on a rather different scale to Global Hawk/Triton in terms of size and weight – the RQ-4 has a gross take-off

weight of 14,628kg, while Zephyr-S weighs approximately 65kg – the long-endurance surveillance capability of the two types is common.

Zephyr-S is charged by solar power during the day, and this power is stored to keep the aircraft flying at night 65-70,000ft above weather. It has demonstrated 14 days’ continuous flight, but is being marketed as having an endurance of up to 45 days non-stop.

The UK MoD committed to purchasing two Zephyrs under an operational concept demonstrator (OCD) contract in February 2016 and followed this in August 2016 by opting to acquire a third example. Zephyr-S aircraft will be assessed by the UK government to see if the capabilities would benefit operations, although an MoD spokesperson claimed it is still to be decided when and where the OCD trial is due to take place.

‘Both the MoD and Airbus remain committed to delivering an operationally

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HALE/HAPS


relevant flight trial at the earliest possible opportunity,’ the spokesperson told UV. ‘The trial location will be selected in order to provide optimum benefit to the programme in conjunction with the trial dates as outlined above.’

An Airbus spokesperson added that the information it can provide is limited, merely noting that it is working towards delivering the aircraft in support of the UK’s demonstration.

Zephyr-S is able to carry a payload of some 5kg and has been touted as beneficial as a communications relay platform to ground troops that need connectivity when operating in remote locations.

Airbus observed that there is a potential requirement to add a radar onto Zephyr, and has therefore designed a twin-tailed variant dubbed the Zephyr-T that can carry a 20kg payload, which should facilitate a small radar. The company is concentrating on delivering the Zephyr-S for the UK contract, but after that it is expected to develop a full-scale twin-tail version that it will test fly in 2019.

Another take on the HALE UAV concept is the Thales Alenia Space Stratobus, a stratospheric airship, a sub-scale version of which the company is planning to test in 2018. Stratobus will eventually

measure 115x44m and fly at altitudes of 65,000ft for up to a year, but the scaled demonstrator will be 34x10m, and will not reach the altitude of the finished design.

The project also includes a number of SMEs, and the initial sub-scale demonstration will be carried out from Istres air base in France, with a full-scale first flight expected in 2020/21.

Yannick Combet, Stratobus’ project manager, told media in March that the company is talking to potential customers in 20 countries, two thirds of which are eyeing the platform for military applications.

Furthermore, a military customer is expected to be the launch operator of the airship, due to armed forces adopting risk-based technology before commercial ones, although more units will be acquired by the civil market in total. Military use would come from the airship’s ability to carry large sensors and undertake surveillance at long ranges, while commercial use would stem from its ability to act as a HAPS and provide a link to the ground for telecommunications, for example.

Thales Alenia Space is targeting production rates starting at two per year, increasing to 15 at its peak to fulfil the demand it is expecting to receive, Combet noted.

Stratobus is solar powered, with regenerative cells to fuel it at night time

using the stored energy. It will carry a 250kg payload and be able to carry out surveillance at ranges of up to 200km when flying at full altitude.

The air vehicle consists of two envelopes, controlling the gas that will provide the lift. This is being provided by project partner Airstar Aerospace, which is adding its aerostat-development experience to the programme, as well as introducing special coatings to the material to allow Stratobus to endure operations at the targeted altitudes.

During the Paris Air Show in June 2017, Thales Alenia Space announced that it had acquired a small holding in Airstar Aerospace, which the companies said would allow them to overcome ‘technological roadblocks’ in developing the airship.

Stratobus can be deployed using fewer than ten people and its GCS can be a fixed or mobile infrastructure. ‘It is quite a large object, not so heavy but large in terms of infrastructure we have to manage,’ Combet noted.

Lasers in vogueIn June 2017, the US Missile Defense Agency (MDA) issued an RfI for a HALE UAV that will have the ability to intercept ballistic missiles in the boost phase using a high-energy laser munition and which will become available in the 2,023 time frame.

Able to fly at altitudes in excess of 63,000ft for more than 36h on station, the selected UAV would have a payload capacity of between 2267 and 5,667kg, supporting a 1-2m aperture payload. The aircraft will have to be able to maintain constant communications with ground control, the RfI notes.

This will build on work the agency began in 2016 to develop a low-power laser demonstrator for use in missile defence, which will ultimately generate the required technologies that will be introduced onto the HALE UAV.

‘A HALE aircraft with greater payload capacity is needed to carry a high-energy laser system payload to high altitudes to mature boost phase intercept (BPI),’ the UAV RfI reads. ‘The results of this RfI will inform future programme options for maturing BPI technology and capability

A proposed Stratobus system will be able to operate at altitudes of 65,000ft. (Image: Thales Alenia Space)

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HALE/HAPS


following the current low-power laser demonstrator effort.

Notably, the required minimum payload capacity of 2,267kg matches that of the U-2, but exceeds the Block 40 Global Hawk that can carry 1,361kg. However, Triton has a combined internal and external capacity of 2,540kg.

Responses are required by 16 August and although the request is seeking an unmanned aircraft for this application, noting this is ‘highly desired’, the MDA does acknowledge that it might consider a manned platform if there is ‘appropriate justification’ for it.

The selected aircraft will operate from the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Hawaii and Edwards AFB in California, the MDA says.

While there is a lot of activity surrounding existing HALE/HAPS programmes, there are still limited numbers of new initiatives being introduced. Although the MDA’s interest in deploying a HALE UAV for

ballistic missile defence is a new and innovative way of adapting high-flying aircraft to a new role, it will be less so if the agency ultimately choose a manned aircraft.

Such a move could pave way for an aircraft with similar characteristics to the U-2 that already has some of the required features to be deployed in support of the ballistic missile defence role, essentially undermining the need for a UAV to carry out the task.

Market dominanceIn terms of existing programmes, the Global Hawk and its derivatives are undoubtedly dominating the heavier-than-air HALE UAV market and have done for some time.

The decision to replace the oft-praised U-2 with this system is credit to the further potential that the unmanned aircraft has, but the date at which the high-altitude surveillance role is entirely

taken over by the Global Hawk still remains to be seen, as the US government avoids placing a retirement date on the Dragon Lady.

The future may lie with ultra-long-endurance platforms like the Zephyr and Stratobus. However, a rather limited payload capacity in the former casts doubt over its true utility, while the latter is overshadowed by the relative lack of success that airship programmes have seen in the past. This means that the two aircraft need to prove that they can add benefits to operators through their development current programmes.

HALE UAVs certainly have their merit, and the breadth of technology types that sit in this category further reinforces the potential for a number of applications. However, much of this promise needs to be proven in coming years to really bolster this market segment, and not just resign it to one – albeit rather successful – UAV type. ■

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In recent years, there has been an incredible increase in platforms, payload and potential use cases in commercial applications of unmanned systems. However, with sector saturation a real risk, is the market big enough for everyone to have their cake and eat it? By Richard Thomas

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T he inexorable growth of the commercial sector is coupled with the rising number of systems being

developed for use in roles such as infrastructure inspection, environmental and scientific research, or geological analysis. While this has brought about a range of technological innovations, particularly from larger companies that effectively had a head start in terms of engineering, research and development, concerns exist within the industry as to how sustainable the start-ups and platform newcomers can be.

Speaking to UV earlier this year, an official from a self-described SME issued a note of caution as to whether unmanned systems developers, particularly at the small end, could find enough business in the commercial market through agriculture and other new use cases being explored.

Cause for concern?The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that he had gone to the agriculture industry in a bid to gather as much information as possible about the

use of unmanned systems in the sector, and found that some consider the business to be about flying the platform and gathering imagery.

‘Even in powerline inspections we asked UAV developers and operators if they can prove that they can do predictive analysis of the powerline failure rather than just reactive. We know when the powerline is failing because we see a transition loss – we already know something is going wrong. And we don’t know how the industry created a need that really didn’t exist,’ the official added.

Among the strongest of statements made was that the commercial unmanned industry is being driven by ‘hype’, contrary to a number of reports that suggest use cases such as agriculture inspection could be worth billions of dollars by the end of the decade. Figures for the wider potential for commercial use run into the tens of billions.

The attention of many looking to operate in the commercial market is fixed on its sustainability. (All photos: UV picture library)

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A business modelThe transition from basic unmanned systems operator to information supplier does have a precedent. Companies such as the UK-headquartered Sky-Futures look set to show the way in terms of how they made their mark and, once established, how they deliberately looked to adapt, expand and vary their services and capabilities.

Recent years have seen the company consciously and vocally move away from the provision of unmanned services to a point where it feels better described as an information disseminator and provider. Effectively this means offering a turnkey solution to the market that encompasses analysis of the customer’s problem, determining the best system solution and then, once all the data has been acquired, being able to break that down into consumable chunks for the client. At the end of the process, the client has the answer needed, rather than being presented with terabytes of data with no real expertise in how to interpret it.

Traditional surveys and inspections have moved to the potential for using UAVs to survey shipping. Indeed, in 2016, Sky-Futures USA was certified by the American Bureau of Shipping to carry out UAS internal vessel inspections.

With this certification, the company can provide UAS service and data analysis

be used for anything from watching kids’ sports to mapping fields to helping policemen. But just because you can, doesn’t necessarily mean you should.

‘It is determining the “should” that is the hard part, and my perspective on this point is that investors are still getting to grips with the answer to that question. We are seeing shifts in leadership, slower funding rounds, consolidation and business pivots that hint that many are still trying to find the “mother lode” of drone business.’

Damush said that the key is in understanding use cases and specific unit economics: ‘Take precision agriculture as an example. The “technology value proposition” is clear – there is no doubt that unmanned systems bring a level of technology and capability to the market that has never been seen before, but what is the economic value proposition? How much more yield can I get? What percentage of the yield increase am I willing to spend to get it? What players in the value chain have the most to gain by deploying the technology?

‘And perhaps the most important question of all – what is the answer I am seeking? This is perhaps the most difficult question of all to answer because to do so requires not just the technology and deep expertise in that technology, but also deep expertise in the use case and what really makes a difference operationally.’

‘There are two and a half years to go [to 2020] and I haven’t profited from the agriculture industry and I don’t know anyone that has. I spoke to a UAV developer that is targeting agriculture and asked them if they had sold any units, and they said “no”.

‘What [the hype] did is it absorbed all the interest of the media, all venture capital and put all the serious players, those that had been in [the industry] for a while, out of business. I have not met more than 10% of people here who are actually going home with a salary from flying drones.’

The last point is perhaps one of the most pertinent as at the end of the day the aim for all those seeking employment in the industry is to be able to make a wage from it. In recent weeks and months, UV has spoken to a wide range of people involved in the unmanned industry and, more often than not, the need to move away from simply going from one government development grant to the next was paramount.

Exactly how this can be achieved is a question that cannot be answered with a quick statement, law or equation, but there are options, from leveraging patented technological developments (see ‘Enter the Dragonfly’, UV Jun/Jul 2017, p44) to turning the business case on its head and using unmanned platforms as gathering tools for the real resource – information.

Jon Damush, VP of Insitu Commercial, told UV that among the biggest challenges in building a sustainable business model was unit economics and ensuring a return on investment. Also, with the introduction of any new technology into an already established (likely manned) operation the emphasis was on being able to perform the same role at a lower cost or else provide increased return at the same cost.

The difficulty in achieving the latter of the two aims was that the business case would have to present gains that the customer had not realised could be achieved, he explained.

‘Most of what you have seen in the way of start-up businesses in the drone business has been [the start-ups] trying to find the millions of users that were going to produce sustainable revenue for them based on the incredibly rapidly growing numbers of small UAS sold each year. It is actually quite easy to see how drones can

Some in industry think that the future market will be dominated by just a few platforms.


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through its Expanse software to its clients, and in doing so it will become the first such approved unmanned vessel inspection provider.

According to Chris Blackford, co-founder and COO of Sky-Futures, one of the main challenges in the sector has been client education. Additionally, in terms of platform saturation, Blackford said that the market will consolidate further with the likes of DJI and Intel dominating the commercial sector.

‘In our early years, we spent a lot of time educating clients on the value drones can bring, whether it be the cost benefit of drone technology versus traditional inspection techniques, or the valuable information that can be gleaned from the data drones collect,’ he told UV.

‘Education remains a challenge but we have seen a significant shift in the last 18 months. The commercial drone market is fast-moving and companies in this space need to always be looking ahead to how drone

hardware will develop, how the needs of the customers will evolve and how software and other associated technology must adapt to meet the needs of the customer.’

Weight of experienceAn advantage that larger companies have long had across the industry is that what they perhaps lack in terms of rapidity of movement, they make up for in weight of resources. This is perhaps best exemplified by the fact that, after years of smaller outfits looking to make their own marks in the commercial UAS space, large OEMs have formed dedicated commercial UAS business units to direct non-security and defence business interest.

Insitu, a wholly owned subsidiary of Boeing, formed a dedicated unit in 2016 to handle the commercial side of its unmanned business, using traditionally military-focused platforms such as the ScanEagle to cross over into commercial applications. Officials at the time said that

such roles could include linear infrastructure and infrastructure in dangerous parts of the world, such as the Arctic or other open oceans.

According to Insitu, most of the company’s operations for large commercial customers are being performed by Insitu Pacific, based in Sydney, Australia. Insitu has been conducting BVLOS operations in-country, and in May last year announced a contract award with Queensland Gas Company for infrastructure monitoring and inspections after an 18-month trial period. According to Insitu at the time, its ScanEagle was expected to enhance operations and improve safety by reducing the demand on manned teams and assets.

Indeed, following on from the gains made by Insitu Pacific, senior officials from that division have since been transferred over to the company’s North American operations in a bid to mirror its success.

Damush explained to UV that the company is already seeing ‘real economic

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gains’ for its customers thanks not just to the unmanned piece of the solution but the system as a whole. Insitu, he added, had an ‘advantage’ in the sector because of the ‘complete spectrum of technologies’ required.

‘[The economic gains] are realised through the application of technological capabilities to specific operational challenges. The combination of technology and expertise with operational experience and use cases allows us and our customers

to collaboratively develop approaches to challenges that produce real, long-term value to their business operations.’

Keeping his response deliberately vague when asked about which existing use cases offer the most in terms of future sustainable business, Damush declined to give away ‘too much secret sauce’ and stated that manned aviation ‘makes a lot of money today’ in a variety of application areas.

‘I don’t see it as finding new use cases for unmanned systems. I see it as evaluating existing use cases to see where unmanned systems can provide increased value and return on investment. Yield, compliance, safety, security – all of these are use case areas where unmanned can help, but the decision to deploy unmanned technologies on these use cases is as individual as the people who have to manage the businesses where these use cases exist.

‘Our rule of thumb inside the business is that we cannot expect a customer to give

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us a contract unless we can show 10x improvement. We feel that this is the rigour that must go into a decision like this because we cannot really afford to simply look at the niches. We are a part of The Boeing Company and we need to be delivering value at scale.’

Funding demandsIn May, the US’s AUVSI called for an increase in funding from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to enable the integration of UAS into national airspace. The need to avoid completely desegregated airspace between manned and unmanned aviation has long been thought of as a key battleground for the future of the commercial and civil sector.

Speaking before the US House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development in Washington, Brian Wynne, CEO of AUVSI, said that the industry ‘is primed for

incredible growth’ and hoped that existing efforts could be sustained for the foreseeable future. Crucial to the effort to integrate unmanned technology into national airspace however, ‘is an FAA that is appropriately funded and empowered to engage meaningfully in the process, alongside industry stakeholders’.

Legislative efforts were increased last year with the introduction of the FAA’s Part 107 registration process, which brought in drone use rules for systems weighing less than 25kg and conducting ‘non-hobbyist’, or commercial, activities.

This was done in part to reduce the immense backlog of applications of small UAS operators looking to get Section 333 approval to conduct flights. The regulations require pilots to keep an unmanned aircraft within visual line of sight and operations are only allowed during daylight or during twilight if the UAS has anti-collision lights. Night flight operations are possible but only with additional approval.

Among other stipulations is the requirement for commercial operators to conduct operations within visual line of sight of either the pilot or an observer ‘unaided by any device’. Small UAS must also yield right of way to other aircraft, maintain a flight ceiling of 400ft above ground level or a structure and obtain permission from air traffic control if operating in certain classes of airspace.

The FAA stated at the time that the industry estimates that the regulatory changes could generate more than $82 billion for the US economy. During the May subcommittee hearing, Wynne stated that more personnel should be dedicated to the development of UAS legislation for more complex operations beyond Part 107.

‘To safely manage the hundreds of thousands of UAS anticipated to operate in American skies, the FAA needs, first and foremost, to automate its UAS processes,’ Wynne said.

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‘Automation will also be important beyond Part 107 for more complex operations. Many of its important management tools and processes, which facilitate safer and more seamless UAS operations, currently operate by manual data input or processing.’

According to AUVSI, there are more than 820,000 UAS registrations with the FAA, most of which are for recreational – read hobbyist – use, and of those about 62,000 platforms have been registered for commercial operations. US government agencies expect that hundreds of thousands of systems will be flying commercially in just a few years’ time.

Limitations and solutionsThe suspicion among some in industry is that there will be a degree of rationalisation in the number of platforms and operators competing in the marketplace. There is also a disparity in resources, as is the case in any business

environment, although such is the capability seen in relatively simple UAS that activities such as site photography and mapping are readily available to most.

For Insitu, instead of technological limitations, the challenge revolves around the business cases for unmanned operations and ensuring public acceptance when such activities take place.

‘If there were any specific bit of technology that could be considered a limiter today, it is a low SWaP-C [size, weight, power and cost] airborne detect and avoid (DAA) solution. But even with that, there are other operational, regulatory and technology adjustments that could be made that would make even the requirement for having an airborne DAA system irrelevant,’ Damush offered. ■

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The industry is evolving as a result of the growing range of applications for unmanned systems, with platforms being designed to accommodate increasingly more unusual payloads. By Angus Batey

For all its bona fides as a sector at the cutting edge of technology, sometimes the unmanned systems industry can

look a little bit conventional. Despite the wide variety of platforms and approaches to vehicle control and management, the range of jobs for which many systems are being designed and deployed is relatively narrow – most involve collecting information from EO, IR or IP-based collection sensors and relaying that data back to base for analysis.

Despite the sector’s relative youth, it is already possible to talk about ‘traditional’ roles for unmanned systems. However, some vehicles are being developed to carry non-traditional payloads, and it may well be that through these rarer but often more technically and legally challenging use cases, the entire industry may make greater steps forward.

Tree surgeryWhen one thinks of the kind of payload that might be delivered, odds are that a tree is unlikely to top the list. Yet unmanned systems have a relatively lengthy history in the forestry and timber industries, and a number of pioneering companies around the globe are currently looking to UAS to help meet some of the greatest environmental challenges of the age.

Forestry’s use of unmanned devices goes back to at least the turn of the century, when

Canadian company Triton launched its Sawfish system, a 3,100kg underwater RPV designed for logging submerged trees. Trees in flooded areas represent a potentially valuable crop, but working at depth is difficult and dangerous for divers so the wood often goes unharvested.

Sawfish is manoeuvred on a tether, which delivers power and relays sonar and video footage to the remote operator, usually situated on a barge. The vehicle is attached to a tree using pincers, then an airbag is fixed to the tree with a drill. The platform’s 55cm saw blade cuts the trunk before the airbag is deployed to float the tree to the surface. The company claims that, in good conditions, Sawfish is able to cut one tree every three to five minutes. The system has been used in Canada, the US and Southeast Asia.

Although UGVs have been investigated for use in more conventional logging roles, perhaps the most intriguing example of a

The initial version of Vulcan UAV’s crop-spraying aircraft had a relatively limited

payload capacity. (Photo: Vulcan UAV)FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION

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It’s very sensitive to a number of things from vibration to excessive height variation.

‘Although it’s a fully self-contained payload and understands exactly where it is – in fact it uses sensors far more accurate than the ones we use to fly – it is also

‘It took a couple of years to go to market with that product after the initial flights because there are a lot of issues with flying LIDAR,’ Hardy said. ‘It’s a very tricky thing to get to work well and it is painfully expensive, so it’s a pretty scary thing to fly!

Raytheon’s GroundEye system presents users with a false-colour image of a rectangular piece of ground, with suspected IEDs highlighted. (Photo: Raytheon)

forestry application is the work being undertaken by British company BioCarbon Engineering and its partners, Vulcan UAV. The team has developed a product to help reforestation efforts – the payload is, in effect, the tree itself.

‘I laughed when we were first approached about that, but actually it works really well,’ said Vulcan UAV’s owner, Alex Hardy. ‘They’ve been out testing it for two years. The problem is not the tree-planting – it’s the biology behind it.’

Vulcan has become, almost by accident, a specialist supplier for UAVs carrying unusual payloads. Like many others, the company set out providing solutions of the flying camera type but began to specialise in higher-weight payloads when customers started asking for larger aircraft with bigger capacities. Initially that extra onboard capability was used to fly better cameras – the company supplies aircraft to a number of high-end movie industry clients – but is also allows for non-photographic payloads, such as the LIDAR pod made by Scottish firm RouteScene.

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sensitive to certain manoeuvres. You can’t simply fly up and down like mowing the grass; you need to understand the best types of turns and run-ins, forward speed and height appropriate for the results you need to obtain.’

Precise pilotingLearning that different payloads required different concepts of aircraft handling and mission planning was useful when Vulcan was approached by BioCarbon with the tree-planting idea. The operational concept is easy enough to describe and, according to Hardy, not particularly challenging to put into action, at least on a concept-proving level. The aircraft is fitted with an airgun, which points directly downwards. It flies to the desired position, hovers, and the gun fires a seed pod into the ground beneath. However, it is not as simple as getting the payload above a patch of ground and pressing the ‘fire’ button – the details of how each mission is flown are absolutely critical.

‘Firing into the ground from the air is not all that complicated,’ Hardy said, ‘but positioning the seed entry point is tricky. Imagine you’re reforesting: if you’ve got a bit of forest that’s been cut, the ground is a mess. There are stumps, branches and rubbish everywhere. There may be rocks, and the terrain is up and down. With this system, you go out and scan the area, then produce a flight plan. As long as you’ve got about a 20cm area of dirt, you can fire two or three seeds into that, and if you get it right they’ll grow.’

Integrating the gun onto one of Vulcan’s multi-rotor aircraft did not prove too difficult. ‘The aircraft design wasn’t that complicated,’ Hardy said. ‘We have to have the airgun pointing downwards and we have to carry a gas cylinder. There is some recoil, but not enough to worry [the platform]. They’re quite resilient aircraft. At the beginning, making sure you’re firing from the right height was a bit tricky but that’s not such a problem now – it’s quite easy to add a laser rangefinder and get an accurate reading.’

Hardy was unwilling to specify the ideal height for firing the seed pod but said that operations are carried out two or three metres above ground. ‘You’ve got to be able to navigate over a lot of obstacles, get down to that height, pinpoint the area and make sure the aircraft is stable enough when it fires not to miss,’ he said.

‘You don’t stabilise the gun – you make sure the aircraft is stable. But the bigger challenge is plotting the planting pattern in the first place. The area has to be scanned and analysed, then decisions made about where, when and how [to plant]. Transferring that information to a flight plan is not too difficult and then actually flying the mission is fairly easy as it is fully automated.

‘The problem is that this has to be done in any conditions – rain, wind, it doesn’t matter – you’ve got to be out there doing it,’ he continued. ‘It’s still a huge undertaking, operating in unusual places often in the middle of nowhere, where there are no facilities and you’ve still got

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PAYLOADS


to successfully operate this kind of machine. The challenge for us will be making sure the aircraft are reliable. They’ll be thrown around in dirt, dropped, chucked in the back of vans, and whatever. They have to be reliable, easily repaired, resilient, tough and not too expensive.’

BioCarbon and Vulcan’s work is already attracting considerable attention. The team was awarded second place in the 2017 edition of Drones for Good, the competition run by the UAE government that seeks to identify and promote socially beneficial uses of UAS. Judges noted the existence of plans by various governments and authorities worldwide to restore some 350 million hectares of forest by 2030, an ambition which manual planting will be unable to achieve. BioCarbon’s stated goal is to plant one billion trees per year.

Rules and regulationsOther companies have also started looking at similar solutions. DroneSeed, a start-up based in Seattle, is currently investigating similar airgun/UAV planting methods. The company operates a service for precision agriculture customers, using UAS to spray woodland and forest areas with selective herbicides that are designed to eradicate invasive species and thus aid tree growth. In April, DroneSeed became the first company to be awarded certifications by the US FAA both to spray ‘agricultural payload (fertilisers, herbicides and water)’ from the air and to do so with multi-aircraft ‘swarms’.

The question of regulation is, as so often in the history of unmanned systems, of critical importance as new uses are found for the technology. Crop spraying provides a good example of how different regulatory

regimes need to be brought in to alignment, usually by manufacturers or end users – and how doing so may not necessarily be straightforward.

In Japan, UAVs have been used to spray crops for some time, with anecdotal evidence suggesting that the practice goes back as far as the 1980s. Early in 2016, Yamaha claimed a first, when it achieved FAA certification for a crop-spraying UAV that had been used widely in the company’s home territory. Yet elsewhere, there appear to be significant barriers to widespread adoption of the technology.

‘We’ve been looking at this on and off for a while,’ said Hardy. ‘We have a machine which will do it. It carries a 21kg payload when it’s loaded with liquid; that’s about 16 litres of liquid plus tanks, pumps, spray bar and the rest. It flies for 15 minutes when full but as you’re pumping you’re losing weight and therefore you can fly for longer.

‘It’s not something you would use to spray a whole field,’ he continued. ‘It’s much more aimed at high-value crops, such as fruit trees, vines or canes, and places hard to reach with other equipment. You’d scan with a small aircraft first, using a multispectral camera, spot the problem areas, then put that flight path into the bigger machine and it just sprays where needed. The beauty of it is that if you’re spraying from under a multi-rotor aircraft, the props blast the spray straight down into the crop, so there’s almost no drift at all.’

Crop-spraying from the air is notionally legal in the UK but the technique is not widely used. This is likely due to a combination of reasons. Few British farms have the size of field that make the option appealing for places like the Midwestern US, and the cost of hiring a suitably equipped aircraft and pilot is prohibitive – tractor-mounted attachments may not be able to do the job as quickly, but are more precise and much cheaper.

Perhaps because the question is rarely asked there is not an immediately clear path through the regulatory landscape for any farmer who wishes to try the kind of precision spraying that Vulcan’s platform can provide. One thing is clear: any unmanned aircraft with a useful amount of liquid payload on board is going to be heavier than the 20kg limit that applies to

The GroundEye sensor – seen here in a tripod-mounted configuration – can be attached to a UGV. (Photo: Raytheon)

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routine commercial flights of UAS in the UK. ‘You would need special permission, though I think you would get it,’ Hardy said. ‘I don’t think anyone has gone beyond trials with it in the UK at the moment.’

The UK’s airspace regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), confirmed to UV that it would likely look favourably on any such proposal, provided those wishing to carry it out could present a suitable safety case. ‘Being a safety regulator, what people use their drone for, ultimately, in the nicest possible way, doesn’t matter to us,’ said CAA spokesperson Jonathan Nicholson. ‘And from a regulatory perspective, from an approvals perspective, we’re interested in the safety level. If somebody wants to do something that absolutely fits in with the existing safety rules and regulations, they can get on with it.

‘If they want to do something that doesn’t fit in with the existing safety rules and regulations, they have to show us how they would do it to an equivalent level of safety, and if we believe that they have reached an equivalent level of safety, we’ll let them get on with it.’

Nicholson acknowledged that the CAA could potentially do more, but also pointed out that it would not be the only body required to give permission. ‘I think there’s probably an issue with us not being clear when we explain things,’ he said. ‘I guess, for a lot of people, we’re their first natural port of call when they want to do something with a drone. And they probably come to us and we go, “Yeah, from a safety perspective, you need to do this, this and this, and oh, you’re crop spraying. Are you aware there are rules about nozzle spread and distribution and the types of chemicals?” We’re probably not always clear that when we say that we’re trying to

be helpful, but it’s not our stuff. There isn’t one agency that takes the lead.’

A UK drone crop-spraying project would need to consult with a number of agencies, likely including the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), possibly the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and most likely the Department for Transport (DfT) as well as the CAA. This is not because the aircraft is unmanned; similarly complicated regulatory regimes affect manned commercial aircraft operations too.

‘When airlines land at UK airports and the aircraft have come from certain other companies, insecticides are sprayed inside the cabin, even while the passengers are still on board,’ Nicholson said. ‘People come to us and ask, “What are they spraying? It’s an aviation thing – it must be the CAA [who

regulates this].” But it’s nothing to do with us, that’s DEFRA. There are a large number of drone rules for commercial operations that come under the HSE rather than us.

‘If there are security issues then it may be split across with the Home Office. Other things may be dealt with by BIS [the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills]. There isn’t a central government portal for drones where a commercial operator can go and say, “I’m thinking of doing X, can you tell me all the rules that apply?” But I think that’s probably the case for virtually every agency.’

Case by casePerhaps counter-intuitively, Nicholson argued that regulating larger, heavier UAVs might not be as challenging a job for the CAA to carry out as smaller aircraft. This may not help solve the end-to-end problem, but at least it means that certifying the aircraft and proving the aviation part of the safety case ought to be relatively uncomplicated.

‘When we wrote the regulations all those years ago, we thought people would be using big drones for big commercial jobs,’ Nicholson said. ‘That’s really what the regulations were written for and we’ve always had that set process. It was at the smaller end where we had to almost catch up. We never envisaged people using things like a Phantom or equivalent for commercial use.’

The tree-planting payload incorporates pressurised air in a canister, and a downward-facing ‘gun’. (Photo: Vulcan UAV)


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PAYLOADS


The regulatory picture is simpler for military users. While UAVs are established with EO and weapon payloads, unusual or innovative technologies are also being fielded on unmanned platforms within a military context. One example is the GroundEye system, a suite of sensors – elements of which remain confidential – designed to detect buried IEDs.

GroundEye has been developed by Raytheon’s UK division and can be fitted onto both manned and unmanned ground vehicles. The operational concept sees the vehicle driven, at low speed, across the ground to be surveyed, with the GroundEye sensor mounted on the front and scanning an area of several square metres.

The advantage of fitting the system to a UGV is primarily the removal of the operator from harm’s way, though there are other benefits too. ‘It gives potential for both remote and autonomous route checking,’ a spokesperson for the Raytheon project team told UV. ‘[It provides a] very good combination when integrated with GPR [ground-penetrating radar] for primary detect, with GroundEye providing a confirm-and-diagnose capability.’

GroundEye is still in development so the SWaP requirements of any final productionised version are not yet known. The system could draw power from the vehicle it is carried on and some

operational scenarios would require a data link (although the spokesperson pointed out that if that were to prove challenging for a small UGV, data could be stored on board and analysed when the vehicle returned).

The current version of the system has a vibrometer which has to be in contact with the ground, so a low-flying UAV would not be a suitable platform at present. But perhaps the biggest obstacle to the system’s commercial prospects is that its mission has become far less critical to western militaries than was the case when development began – when British and American troops were regularly encountering buried IEDs in Afghanistan and Iraq.

‘The ROI [return on investment] for development to production is suffering from a perceived lack of demand, though there is still reasonable export market potential. We are looking at development options with the US military,’ the Raytheon spokesperson said.

Corporate ambitionIt should perhaps come as little surprise that the digital technology giants presently developing unmanned aircraft are attempting some of the most ambitious and unusual payloads. Amazon’s Prime Air project is intended to provide the online retailer with a bespoke means of delivering packages under 5kg in weight. Therefore, in theory, its payload could be anything at all,

provided it is not any heavier and can fit in a box that the aircraft can carry. The first commercial delivery carried out by the project took place in Cambridgeshire in December, an order of a USB stick and a packet of popcorn.

Facebook has been developing an unmanned aircraft under the auspices of its Connectivity Labs programme. The social media platform and publisher is seeking to provide internet coverage to areas of the globe lacking it entirely, or where current provision is either patchy or expensive. It plans to do this with large fleets of solar-powered unmanned aircraft that, it claims, will fly at above 60,000ft for three months at a time.

The system under development is called Aquila and was originally the work of Ascenta, a Somerset-based company that Facebook acquired in 2014. The first flight of the 42.4m-wingspan aircraft took place in the US last year and was considered successful despite the prototype crash-landing. Another flight took place in June, lasting 1h 46min, which saw the aircraft reaching an altitude of 3,000ft. The company plans to be flying at 60,000ft ‘reliably and for a long duration’ by the end of this year. Facebook did not respond to a request for an interview.

Ironically, the very complications that make Facebook’s programme such a challenge have led, indirectly, to the creation of perhaps the simplest – if not necessarily the easiest to manufacture – UAV payload of them all.

After Facebook bought Ascenta, one of the company’s founders set up Windhorse Aerospace, which has developed the Pouncer UAV. The aircraft is designed to deliver food aid in places where fighting or damaged infrastructure prevents access to governments or charities.

Windhorse says that its aircraft – which is designed to be airdropped from a C-130 or similar cargo plane – will be able to deliver up to 50kg of food from a range of between 35 and 40km, with an accuracy of 7m. The aircraft is only designed to fly one way, and will cost £500 each. Initially, the structural elements of the aircraft are intended to provide shelter or combustible fuel, but the desired end goal is to manufacture even sturdy components, such as wing spars, from edible material. The hope is that the whole vehicle will become the payload. ■

Operating scenarios for the Pouncer UAV include delivering its 50kg food payload to populations trapped in war zones. (Image: Windhorse Aerospace)


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COMBATCAPABILITIESWhile weaponisation of UAVs is now routine, arming marine surface systems is still in its relative infancy. By Heidi Vella


NAVAL SYSTEMS

A s the use of USVs in roles such as mine countermeasures (MCM) grows and is further adopted by

the world’s navies, efforts are also being made to boost the offensive capabilities of such platforms to give them a more kinetic purpose.

In April 2016, the USN unveiled its experimental 40m-long Sea Hunter USV, which has since been undergoing further development as a surveillance and potential anti-submarine warfare (ASW) platform. At the time, Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work called the moment an ‘inflection point’, adding: ‘I would like to see unmanned flotillas operating in the western Pacific and the Persian Gulf within five years.’

Maritime roboticsHis words reflect an increasing focus on automation in the surface combat arena to better manage growing threats from global terrorism. While unmanned warships are still

developmental, increasingly sophisticated, multi-purpose USVs are already available and in use, with demand from navies, border forces and the commercial sector expected to soar as the technology’s capabilities continue to expand.

Market reports suggest that the USV sector is expected to nearly double in size between 2017 and 2022, with defence applications likely to dominate.

Pushing the capabilities of USVs beyond a simple ‘eyes and ears’ platform to incorporate complex combat operations, such as MCM, electronic warfare (EW) and ASW, has become a focus for OEMs and navies alike. Adopting a more flexible, multi-purpose approach can improve safety, increase efficiency and create more cost-effective machines.

Many recent advances have been facilitated by developments in high-tech sensors, sonars and software, as well as machine learning and computer algorithms,

which are continually improving to make an increasingly autonomous maritime combat force possible.

One of the armed USVs on the market is Israel-based Rafael’s Protector system. It was developed in response to emerging terrorist threats against maritime assets, such as the USS Cole bombing and ongoing attacks on commercial and naval vessels in the Bab-el-Mandeb strait near Yemen, where several incidents have occurred recently.

The fifth-generation Protector is the first iteration of the technology to be designed from scratch as a USV ‘weapon system’. Intended as an escort to a task force, it has an EO sensor, a light stabilised weapons system with a 12.5mm gun, a 360° camera and an EW payload, as well as MCM capabilities. The control station receives all system data, video imagery and audio required to effectively build a situation awareness picture and operate the USV.

The system, in use with a number of forces including the Israeli Navy, can accommodate lethal and non-lethal weaponry. The anti-terror/force protection payload includes a Toplite Electro-Optical

The Protector is designed for a wide range of missions, such as protecting commercial traffic through high-risk areas. (Photo: Rafael)

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of around 4kt – and uses image recognition to search for shapes that look like a submerged mine. The UUV can then send a picture to a receiver up to 130m away where operators review the images and send in a crew or remote-controlled vehicle to explore the area in more detail.

On the huntNo naval force has completely replaced its mine-hunting fleet with unmanned systems yet, but countries such as the US and the UK are heading in that direction, and OEMs are developing technology accordingly.

Elbit Systems has just finished four years of R&D on the Seagull multi-mission USV system and says it is now fully operational. This is specifically designed for end-to-end mine-hunting operations, including detection, classification, location, identification and neutralisation of bottom, moored and drifting sea mines, but can also conduct ASW.

‘The advantage of operating a USV is significantly more evident in MCM and ASW missions, rather than in force protection and patrolling missions,’ said Yaron Levi, VP of the naval systems business line at Elbit, a former Deputy Commander of the Israeli Navy who left the service last September.

‘That is why when developing the Seagull, it was important it could access the underwater arena because then you can do the same mission [MCM] but it saves money and manpower,’ he added.

‘We are working on the assumption that using USVs is cheaper because running a ship can cost up to $100,000 a day,’ said Vincent Myers, who specialises in naval mine warfare and is a senior defence scientist with Defence Research and Development Canada.

‘If you can replace a ship with mine hunters – everyone is working on that assumption – there is a saving. However, traditionally on a ship you drive around, spot mines with a sonar and dispose of them as you go along – everything was done in stride. We didn’t have to wait for the data before, so while it may be safer to use USVs, they come with other features that you then need to mitigate.’

The Protector has an MCM payload that uses a multi-beam sonar to detect mines in shallow water. Using acoustics, it can communicate in real time with a UUV and transmit pictures from the latter to the USV and then the control station. Ben Tzook called this capability a ‘world first’ because usually it is necessary to wait until the UUV comes to the surface before data can be collected. However, he declined to comment on how the mine is neutralised once detected.

Many developers are trying to overcome the underwater communication barrier. In May, Canada’s Department of National Defence announced that it had developed a torpedo-shaped drone that could make the process quicker. The drone employs sonar to scan the ocean floor – reaching speeds

Director (EOD) stabilised sight system and the Mini-Typhoon stabilised weapon station. It can also carry a water cannon system for non-lethal deterrence, crowd control and fire-fighting. Passive and active payloads can be swapped in around two hours due to the USV’s modular configuration.

Missile boatThe Protector’s most recent feature is a four-round Spike ER missile launcher that was tested and demonstrated in December 2016.

‘We have a full concept force protection USV,’ said Meir Ben Tzook, marketing and business development manager in Rafael’s land and naval systems division. ‘For example, it is an escort; all the merchant ships that are crossing Bab-el-Mandeb strait, the Protector can secure them, detect the enemy [and] jam them with EO transmissions.

‘With the Toplite EO payload it can look in the direction of the transmission of the enemy radar, classify it as an enemy target and then launch the missile, close the circle and engage it, all in just a few seconds from the detection, without any man on board.’

The Protector is also designed to be used in swarm attack provocation scenarios, to be an advance guard before a task force or high-value asset, and engage incoming hostiles with Spike missiles. For this capability, one or two systems can be deployed as a first line of defence, each operating its own mission profile.

‘This is the main aim of western navies – to protect crew members by operating these kinds of platforms,’ said Ben Tzook.

Underwater communication One of the principle uses of USVs has been as a gateway between the surface and below-water domains, because it essentially straddles both. However, underwater communication is extremely difficult and compressing sonar data to be transmitted has been a challenge.

Navies and border forces are working towards the idea that mine-hunting ships can be replaced by unmanned equivalents but the aforementioned communication challenges can make the process safer but somewhat time-consuming and inefficient.

NAVAL SYSTEMS

The Elbit Systems Seagull is now fully operational. (Photo: Elbit Systems)

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NAVAL SYSTEMS


The Seagull consists of two vessels and one control system. For MCM missions, the first vessel operates a K5900 side-scan sonar and an R2Sonic forward-looking sonar for search, detection and classification. Scanning is done at a maximum speed of 12kt, but usually at between 8 and 10kt.

The second vessel operates an ROV and an EMDV – an underwater robot with an explosive warhead. After the former identifies a mine, the latter neutralises it. These are autonomously launched and recovered from the USV and operated from the control station which is uncompromised by its location. The company is co-developing a synthetic aperture sonar for more sophisticated post-processing of data that will be operational this year.

To operate the Seagull in the most complex scenarios, four people are needed to monitor it and conduct the mission at a mobile control station, whereas for traditional mine hunting up to 50 sailors are needed.

‘It is much faster than what mine hunters are doing today because once the mine is identified by the first vehicle, the second one takes care of the mine and the first one is free to continue the scanning, which is why we cover large areas in a short time,’ said Levi.

In June, the diesel-powered Seagull completed a challenge in the North Sea, participating in the bi-national MCM trials for unmanned systems organised by the Belgian Defence Ministry.

After installing a mobile C2 unit on board a Belgian Pollux patrol boat the Seagull

performed real-time detection, mapping and classification of mine-like objects at a speed of 10kt in sea states five and six, scanning three different areas, processing imagery, generating immediately actionable data and issuing an on-the-spot report to the Belgian Navy.

‘To get all that sonar data in real time via data link or satellite, with all the problems with bandwidth, we had to use very complex and clever technological solutions and condense those to get a real sonar picture that is useful for real-time analysis,’ noted Levi.

Managing autonomy The reality is that all operations today using USVs have a human element for safety, reassurance and control, but the aim is to increase autonomy – within reason.

For combat USVs, it is imperative to keep the ‘man in the loop’ in potential attack scenarios, but using smart algorithms, sonars and navigational technology that can integrate cameras, radar and different payloads to build a tactical picture for automatic obstacle and collision-avoidance mean USVs are increasingly independent.

Vessels can make informed and important decisions, such as when to give way and when to deploy a sonar for mine detection.

‘Machine learning and AI are important; I think some of the things we have done you can give them this title, but it is not the main objective,’ said Levi, ‘In general, we prefer to talk about autonomous modes while one of our operators is observing the behaviour.’

This is a common position but it is changing. UK-based ASV Global, which has produced several smaller USVs for mine-sweeping, mine-hunting, ASW and remote sensing and surveillance, has been working on increasing the autonomy of its vehicles with the ASVIEW control system.

Over the last 18 months, the firm has run programmes funded by DSGL and Innovate UK to teach vessels how to recognise things in the water using deep learning techniques that continually self-improve. This has started to be used in processing sonar and other types of data for safe navigation of vessels as well as to identify different behaviours at sea.

‘If a fishing trawler is moving along at a certain speed in a normal pattern but stops and does something the USV hasn’t seen it do before, maybe it is doing something it shouldn’t. The autonomous surface vessel could go over and inspect it,’ said ASV managing director Dan Hook.

‘We want the [USV] to choose what is of interest to the human operator, rather than overloading the operator with thousands of images and data.’

The idea that a USV should be able to transition in and out of autonomous mode is important. Textron Systems, which produces the USN’s Fleet-class Common Unmanned Surface Vehicle (CUSV), says it likes to use the term ‘sliding autonomy’.

The CUSV is an 1.8m, purpose-built vessel for unmanned operations developed over eight years. It is used by the navy as part of its Unmanned Influence Sweep Program (UISS) for mine sweeping and neutralisation, but can

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also be deployed for other mission sets, such as ISR and ASW, communications relay, counter-piracy and lethal and non-lethal capabilities. It has been on contract by the USN since 2014.

‘The CUSV can transition from, in effect, a remote-control surface vehicle, putting the operator in the loop and enabling them to effectively drive, steer and control the system, all the way through to “man in the loop” where the craft can be told to execute a mission and that mission can be either pre-loaded or developed ad-hoc.

‘The craft will effectively autonomously conduct that mission, navigating to any contingency waypoints as necessary,’ said Wayne Prender, Textron Systems Unmanned Systems’ VP of control and surface systems.

Future progress Maritime agencies have realised that marine robotics are not just a thing of the future but are available now, and are cost-effective and life-saving. USVs for combat missions are becoming part of business as usual.

Belgium, Brazil, France, Poland, the UK and the US all have advanced programmes, and OEMs report strong demand that is expected to grow.

USVs are advancing in their capabilities but there are still technical challenges beyond underwater communication, such

as balancing weight and power when there is always a desire to fit more on board the platform. To overcome this, ASV, Elbit, Rafael and Textron have all developed modular systems that take a few hours to change payloads. But autonomy for interoperability remains a focus.

This area has advanced but there is still progress to be made that would be beneficial to mission execution and ease of performance.

‘Right now, most USVs can adapt based on input,’ said Myers. ‘For example, we can estimate the performance of the sonar and if it stops working figure this out – we can create an algorithm that will adapt its mission considering this information, for example, “my sonar is not working I will go back and do it again”. But most of the autonomy is adaptation rather than pure true autonomy. If the USV was able to collaborate with another machine and divide the task off that would be better.’

However, he added that this is likely to change in the future because increased autonomy is vital to adding new capabilities.

‘If a vehicle is out for three or four days you are going to need better thinking on board – that is where I think it is going to go in the future,’ Myers said.

Beyond current capabilities, new areas of interest for naval forces are connecting and deploying USVs with other vehicles,

particularly UUVs and AUVs, to complete complex mission sets autonomously.

Such autonomy will help naval forces achieve this. Textron demonstrated this ability with its Synturian family of multi-vehicle control and collaboration technologies. According to the company, it is the first GCS that allows multiple unmanned vehicles to be commanded and controlled simultaneously from a single location, whether they be air or surface platforms. It is interoperable with Textron’s iCommand suite, a battlespace management system that links people, platforms and payloads in real time.

In the first ever Unmanned Warrior exercise held in British waters last year, Canada, the UK and the US demonstrated interoperability across their different systems.

‘This is not currently common because everyone has their own unmanned systems and they are still getting them to figure out the tactics, tools and procedures that they need to use them; there are no standards currently,’ said Myers, who was at the event.

‘Parts are not standardised but we can standardise between communication and autonomy and mine countermeasures and the messages it needs to react, so it will be more common in the future.’

It seems then that an integrated multinational maritime unmanned task force is no longer the stuff of science fiction. ▪

NAVAL SYSTEMSThe CUSV has been in development for a

number of years, primarily for future USN applications. (Photo: Textron Systems)

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With the proliferation of COTS UAVs employed by violent extremist organisations in the Middle East, the defence and security sector continues to ramp up capabilities to not only detect such threats before they have even occurred, but effectively counter them. By Andrew White

Operational vignettes from northern Iraq and Syria regarding the utility of weaponised UAVs by ISIS

continue to be reported by coalition forces, while secure commercial chat channels are being used as a covert means of communication to design, develop and disseminate CONOPS and tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs) associated with asymmetric warfare undertaken by these militant groups.

attacks as opposed to being on the “open” web, which is too risky.

‘There is a lot of action going on, working in this way and we are seeing an increasing amount of activity across the Internet and we anticipate this to take place more and more in the future.’

Airborne IEDsUndoubtedly the largest growth area for terrorist organisations in the Middle East is the proliferation of UAV intelligence across the Internet, with Israeli cyber intelligence specialist company Sixgill describing to UV how it has witnessed significant uplift in not only information but activities since the start of February 2017.

Making a set of restricted material available to UV, the company described

In the wrong hands

Encrypted and anonymous communications nodes, including chat channels such as Telegram, WhatsApp, Threema and Signal, are being used to educate combatant leaders, groups and even so-called ‘lone wolves’ worldwide.

One source explained: ‘Terrorist groups are using the Internet in an anonymous and encrypted manner. This is the best way for them to collaborate, create and plan

An ISIS drone that was shot down by the Iraqi Army lies on the ground. The UAV had been modified to drop bombs.

(Photo: Berci Feher via ZUMA Wire)

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multiple UAV attacks on Syrian and Iraqi military forces. ‘A wealth of information can be found on Telegram, a secure encrypted messaging application operating in the deep web,’ officials explained, while describing how the German/Russian-based Telegram application continues to emerge as the jihadists’ preferred channel for encrypted communications.

‘Looking at examples regarding the use of new weapons by IS [ISIS] demonstrates just how prevalent this trend has become,’ officials warned.

Intelligence reveals how recent UAV attacks have resulted in claims of 14 fatalities, 25 injuries, damage to 14 military vehicles, as well as destruction of two vehicles over a three-day period of attacks in Iraq and Syria.

‘IS published the results of these attacks, which have included dozens of casualties and destruction of military vehicles, such as HMMWVs,’ Sixgill officials explained to UV. ‘Following this release, an increasing amount of IS and pro-IS Telegram channels have

Examples include a supposed 6 February attack, publicised by the ISIS news agency ‘Amaq’, which involved a mortar munition being vertically dropped from a UAV or ‘airborne IED’ (ABIED) onto military vehicles.

A still from an Amaq video showing ISIS combatants operating a UAS. (Photo: via author)

In response to the SUAS terror threat, the defence and security market is pushing the proliferation of counter-UAV technology.

Niche specialists including Chess Dynamics, Enterprise Control Systems and Blighter banded together to launch one of the first products in the counter-UAV market several years ago, with the Anti-UAV Defence System (AUDS) – an undisclosed number of which, according to defence sources, are already operational with coalition forces in the Middle East.

The AUDS solution relies upon detection and identification of UAV threats at a range of 10km with the Blighter A400 Series air security radar; and subsequent tracking of targets by the Chess Dynamics Hawkeye DS and EO video tracker; before being handed over to Enterprise Control Systems’ directional RF inhibitor for disruption.

However, multiple other options were on show at the Paris Air Show in June this year, illustrating how major OEMs across the market are now offering up solutions for not only military users, but law enforcement and civilian applications for the protection of critical national infrastructure and special events. Players including Elbit Systems, IAI and Thales all

exhibited capabilities at the show to varying degrees.

Also present was Rohde & Schwarz (R&S), ESG and Diehl, which have joined forces to integrate together various detection, identification, C2 and disrupting technologies to provide a holistic counter-UAV solution.

R&S RF, radar, EO and acoustic detection systems (the latter of which is used to cover blind spots more associated with high angle restrictions in the urban environment) are networked to ESG’s Taranis data fusion solution. This, in turn incorporates connectivity to Diehl’s smart jammer countermeasure, meaning threats can be identified at ranges as far as 3km before being tracked and disrupted with narrowband high-powered electromagnetic (HPEM) effectors at a distance of less than 1km, company officials explained to UV.

Disruptors are capable of: disconnecting Wi-Fi connectivity of UAVs; jamming ISM bands including Bluetooth; as well as disabling GNSS capabilities for UAV navigation through pre-designated waypoints, company officials explained to UV. The solution is already in use with the German government, sources confirmed.

Dazzling developmentsElsewhere, Thales’ counter-UAS solution was exhibited, with company officials claiming it could detect micro-, mini- and tactical UAVs flying with low signatures, low speeds and at low altitudes.

‘The emergence of numerous UAVs of various types and the dazzling technical development of embedded robotics or coordinated flights lead to new defence paradigms,’ a company spokesperson explained.

‘The UAV threat is real and now and is so wide and fast-evolving that a single equipment system can rapidly turn inefficient. Thales combines multiple techniques, hardware and software innovation to guarantee operational efficiency.’

Thales’ solution features a C2 suite comprising: automatic threat evaluation and coherent weapon allocation solution; data fusion capability for a single operating picture; and an engagement coordination mobile alert system. This is networked to a series of active and passive sensor systems for the detection of threats ahead of positive identification and both hard-kill and soft-kill ‘neutralisation’ options including Rapid Defender, Rapid Ranger

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disseminated photos of the UAV attacks and have praised IS technological capability.

‘Some of the people on those channels commented on potential future IS technological improvements that will

increase the UAV’s size, payload and capacity. They also noted the potential equipping of the UAV with bacterial or chemical materials.’

A separate but similar attack, also publicised by Telegram, was executed on a popular mobilisation force position in Salah ad-Din Province, Iraq.

Supporting Internet channels described how ISIS elements were now launching ‘missiles and mortars’ from UAVs, while displaying images of a supposedly Ukrainian-manufactured quadrotor UAV carrying antitank weapon and mortar tubes capable of launching such munitions.

Further upliftHowever, Sixgill also warned of a further uplift of capabilities by ISIS in this area within just weeks of these attacks. On

24 February, news emerged from Amaq regarding an ABIED attack that destroyed an Iraqi security force HMMWV in Mosul. According to Telegram chatrooms, the type of mortar dropped from the UAV was ‘different’ to those used before.

Comments in such forums included support for the development, detailing that such a capability would ‘be a nightmare for the enemy’ and that the use of it ‘will be distributed to other provinces’.

Such aerial payloads are reportedly made from lightweight plastic and able to be manufactured locally, while UAS have also been seen with solar cells to enhance mission endurance. Further suggestions indicated an expectation to see such systems increase endurance and carrying capacity, with further experimentation into biological payloads.

and Crotale Mk 3 weapons, jammers, lasers and RF systems.

The solution is capable of supporting military operations as well as integration into civilian air traffic management technology.

Other options include IAI Elta’s counter-UAV solution that was selected by the USAF in February as part of a $15.5 million contract. The Drone Guard has an integrated Manportable Aerial Radar System (MARS-K), Mini-Pop EO/IR sensor and Smart Jammer.

Where and whenAccording to Avi Kasztan, CEO of the Israeli cyber intelligence platform Sixgill, it remains a challenge to identify where and when these terrorist activities are occurring across the Internet.

Speaking to UV, Kasztan explained how the company had invented specialist algorithm technology to identify such illegal chatroom activity following what it deemed to be a capability gap in cyber counter-terrorism CONOPS.

‘There was a gap in this type of market because [terrorism] activities were not obvious at the time,’ Kasztan explained. ‘HUMINT activities can be very limited in their coverage because you are a human

being and therefore limited in the way you extract information. Also, you are limited in processing this information.

‘Now, the name of the game is all about connecting the dots and making intelligence part of a larger piece, and you can only do this in an automatic way,’ he said.

Sixgill’s operating model is designed to detect and defuse terrorist attacks, with clients ranging from government agencies through to the private sector. This ELINT surveillance, according to Kasztan, provides clients with patterns of behaviour and triggers in order to prevent attacks before they are executed with the integration of real-time alerts.

A Sixgill official described to UV how the Internet remains ‘packed with difficult-to-find forums and pages’, cumulatively providing information that allows terrorist organisations to create social networks and more effectively reach out to and educate partners globally.

The company’s DARK-i software allows customers to: observe attackers as they formulate plans; detect and control organisational data leaks; and prevent attacks; as well as generate customised and actionable intelligence.

As a company spokesperson explained: ‘By continuously tracking and discovering communication nodes across evolving Darknets, we trace malicious activity back to their original sources and track criminal activity along the entire cyber crime cycle from target selection, reconnaissance and planning to the actual sale of information or goods.’

Similar work is being undertaken by DARPA, which has developed the Memex concept to create next-generation search technologies that ‘revolutionise the discovery, organisation and presentation’ of Internet content.

‘Memex seeks to develop software that advances online search capabilities far beyond the current state of the art. The goal is to invent better methods for interacting with and sharing information, so users can quickly and thoroughly organise and search subsets of information relevant to their individual interests,’ DARPA literature reads.

‘The technologies developed in the program [aim to] provide the mechanisms for improved content discovery, information extraction, information retrieval, user collaboration and other key search functions.’

Today, everything is interconnected andinterrelated with

terrorist groups cooperating with one another. We are seeing a lot of hardcore activity in the Middle East, although not exclusively.

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Information gathered by UV suggests that increased payload capacity has led to the ability of ISIS UAVs to carry larger munitions in order to inflict greater collateral damage, with 70mm unguided air-to-surface Hydra-type rocket capabilities being referred to. Other changes in tactics, techniques and procedures include the utility of a double-mortar payload carried by a single quadrotor UAV.

Sixgill officials added: ‘Another indication, this time to a future development of the IS UAVs, was noted by a top pro-IS Telegram channel, referring to the attack of IS operatives in the Yemeni province al-Bayda, against the Houthis. The attack was covered by a UAV and photos of it were released by IS.’

Beyond the success of attacks, pro-ISIS Telegram channels also provide insurgents with the educational ability to share military-related knowledge, ranging from physical training through to weapons manufacturing and technology-related tutorials, ‘with the

aim of IS supporters around the world carrying out attacks’, Sixgill warned.

‘[Examples include] how to build a small jet engine and how to install it on a small UAV, so it will be able to carry a small warhead and be very fast for chasing after some of the big airplanes; and how to build the frame of UAVs, using a machine manufactured by a UK-based company, or using templates.’

Additionally, information is being disseminated regarding the execution of ‘lone wolf’ attacks, with links to overt channels on the World Wide Web, including YouTube: ‘Many supporters are very interested in how to make UAVs weaponised and how to make UAVs from available materials, but they are not aware they are being monitored,’ Sixgill analysts informed UV.

Chemical and biological weaponsAccording to Sixgill’s analysis of Arabic-language web forums conducted between

2013 and 2015, ISIS retains an interest and capability in non-conventional munitions, including chemical and biological weapons, although this represents a small element, amounting to less than 5% of conversation in the area of weapons and tactics.

However, appetite to develop such capabilities and expertise remains high on the ISIS agenda, with Telegram chatrooms calling for future fleets of UAVs to be equipped with bacterial and chemical materials as well as ‘very strong explosives’.

Sixgill explained: ‘A pro-IS Telegram channel posted an article about the UAV in which it was praised as a “precedent-setting and quality achievement” of IS and claimed that in the coming days the UAV will have increased capacity and will carry more powerful mortars.

‘In the future, the UAVs will be equipped with bacterial or chemical materials or very strong explosives.’

However, Sixgill admitted that any communications referring to chemical

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Videos disseminated via the Amaq outlet show effective use of unmanned systems during operations. (Photo: via author)

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weapons had yet to be witnessed on Telegram despite accusations from the International Committee of the Red Cross on 6 March 2017, describing how civilians were being treated for ‘possible exposure to chemical weapons’ in Erbil, Iraq.

Terrorist awarenessDescribing how Telegram chatrooms were also routinely used by al Qaeda militants, Sixgill analysts described terrorist standard operating procedures to hide communications traffic, while also conversely requiring to spread the word and disseminate propaganda, news and ideology globally over more media.

However, one analyst warned: ‘They want to hide and talk securely, but also want people to hear them and convince potential supporters as well as refute Western media claims about how their operations are going. Telegram enables a secure platform for them unlike Twitter. A short-lived link invitation is sent among followers, allowing them to speak more securely.

‘We noticed in the last few weeks, they have now started to develop a new strategy for returning to Twitter, with designated Telegram accounts preparing tweets for supporters to copy and paste.

‘But if they become aware, what is their alternative? The Internet is their best alternative right now, although there are a lot of posts about security breaches and applications and recommendations on other communications applications, providing greater security than Telegram.’

Other options, according to security sources, include Threema and Signal as well as Zero Net, which is an ‘open, free and uncensorable website using Bitcoin cryptography and BitTorrent network’.

One industry source explained to UV how specialists had yet to witness significant movement from Telegram to alternative platforms of this type, although they conceded ‘we have seen the beginning’.

Also considering the possibility of ‘misinformation’ being provided by ISIS and other terrorist organisations, Sixgill analysts admitted they remained aware of the threat: ‘When we read material posted on Telegram channels, we are always aware they could be delivering misinformation.’

International threatsAs the very nature of the Internet suggests, terrorist activities across encrypted channels do not remain the sole preserve of ISIS. According to security sources, al Qaeda as well as Hezbollah force elements are also monitoring ISIS networks and generating their own material, the latter of which remains focused on operations along the Gaza Strip.

Sixgill analysts explained to UV: ‘Today, everything is interconnected and interrelated with [terrorist] groups cooperating with one another. We are seeing a lot of hardcore activity in the Middle East, although not exclusively. We adapt ourselves according to the customers, but we work in other places and adapt to those working conditions.’

However, reliance upon automated algorithms capable of unearthing huge amounts of intelligence depends heavily upon the storage of big data ahead of its forensic examination.

Explaining how such capability demanded algorithms capable of undertaking behavioural analysis in order to better understand data, industry sources described uplift in areas such as artificial intelligence (AI). Such technology could help identify and understand modi operandi, reasoning and group interactions automatically.

‘One of the challenges on the Internet is that there is no such thing as a “normal” search engine. So how do you know where to look? We have developed technology service locators to find where those places are for information exchange and, secondly, developed technology to extract information from those places. In general, terrorists can be smart guys and we need to overcome that,’ Sixgill explained.

Forward thinkingAn effective counter-terrorism strategy will rely heavily upon a mix of capabilities including the efficient trawling of Internet chatrooms as well as ongoing ELINT, SIGINT, VISINT, HUMINT and open-source intelligence (OSINT). However, defence sources have explained to UV how collaboration, cooperation and integration of such technologies must first be harnessed in order to maximise intelligence chains.

Options include their integration into man-machine interface and deep learning solutions including AI systems, capable of fusing together multiple intelligence-gathering capabilities to shorten decision-making processes associated with counter-terrorism campaigns in particular.

Only then will security agencies be able to cope with the huge volume of data being collected in order to effectively deal with evolving threats from sophisticated enemy parties, capable of concealing their movements in both physical and online domains.

As an industry source in the AI field explained to UV, only the development of new technologies, CONOPS and TTPs will allow security agencies to not only react to, but predict terror threats and attacks before they develop. ■

Although the videos cannot be independently verified, ISIS has revolutionised asymmetric unmanned operations. (Photo: via author)

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MARITIME FOCUS

Autonomy at sea As global interest is increasing in the use

of unmanned systems for naval mine countermeasures operations, UV assesses the progression of the sector over the last year and the resulting programmes that are on the horizon. By Beth MaundrillT he maritime environment is home to a wide range of

unmanned technologies, from airborne assets to underwater vehicles. These can be utilised for

various operations, from surveillance and reconnaissance to exclusive economic zone (EEZ) protection, anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and mine detection.

The maritime mine countermeasures (MCM) sector is leading the way in the use of unmanned systems, with various nations currently working on or having already put forward plans for new MCM platforms and programmes that integrate a high number of such vehicles.

Over the past 12 months, there have been two major events involving unmanned systems in the maritime arena: Exercise Unmanned Warrior, held in Scotland; and more recently the joint Belgian and Dutch navies’ North Sea Unmanned (NSU) MCM Trials.

The former was an opportunity for various companies and industry partners to showcase their capabilities to the UK RN and other observers. However, no procurement programme was associated with the event, which saw various UAVs displayed alongside UMVs.

Programme trials On the other hand, the NSU MCM Trials were carried out to move forward with a new procurement programme for the two participating nations’ navies, which are planning to change the way in which MCM operations are carried out, with an increased focus on the use of an unmanned toolkit.

Speaking to UV, Baudouin Coppieters de Gibson, project leader for the MCM replacement programme, said: ‘Unmanned systems offer the Belgian and Netherlands navies the opportunity to deploy a stand-off MCM capability whereby the manned MCM platform stays outside the mine threat area

The Inspector Mk2 has one of the more developed MCM capabilities available. (Photo: ECA Group)

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increased unmanned use is to remove the human from the loop for safety reasons. This has already been achieved on land by militaries who use UGVs to work on IED detection and clearance.

Stand-off conceptIncreasing the utilisation of unmanned systems will bring about a significant change for larger mother ships. In theory, they could be built at a lower cost, since they would no longer have to move into known minefields and would not need the enhanced levels of protection currently found on minehunters.

‘The stand-off concept is new and will change the way of executing MCM operations. The operation will be executed from a large stand-off range from the mother ship,’ explained Coppieters de Gibson.

‘The MCM systems in the so-called MCM toolbox will have to be manned in a modular way depending on the composition of the toolbox, which may differ according to the mission. This also implies that the education and training needs to be modular in line with the toolbox composition modularity and the mission modularity,’ he added.

Dedicated new MCM vessels are needed to launch, control and retrieve the versatile toolbox systems, although some may also be deployed from shore or offshore sites.

Future MCM operations for the Belgian Navy will include focus on home ports and national EEZs, allied sea lines of communications within the NATO area of responsibility and expeditionary operations in possible areas of interest worldwide.

The next stage of the project is to finalise requirements for the replacement of the MCM capability for both nations and issue a request for quotation, expected in 2018.

Belgium is also part of the ongoing European Defence Agency (EDA) European Unmanned Maritime Systems (UMS) R&D project, part of a €53 million programme that aims to improve naval capabilities with the use of UMS. Other participating countries include Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.

An EDA document states: ‘Through research and technology, demonstrators and de-risking studies, the UMS

combination was first unveiled in 2016 at Unmanned Warrior.

Having taken part in the NSU MCM trials, John Sutcliffe, director of business development at Atlas Elektronik UK, said that the company was ‘really pleased with what we were able to demonstrate, because we did the whole mine detect-to-engage [process] with an offboard system, which was working in an autonomous role’.

The demonstration carried out by Atlas was fully unmanned, but the company did maintain a person on board the ARCIMS platform for safety reasons. ‘The platform followed [the Belgian support ship] out of harbour in an unmanned role. It travelled 37km to the search area. It then went into a mission plan and it deployed the AQS-24B, did a search plan at 14kt and detected various mine-like objects,’ Sutcliffe explained.

‘On the command and control of the Belgian Navy… the platform was informed as to where [two] contacts of interest were. They then deployed SeaFox to go down and classify the mines and then in theory engage the mine.’ He added that this is the first time, to his knowledge, that such a mission has been carried out fully autonomously.

‘Lots of people have gone out and said they can search an area and find mine-like objects with a towed sonar or can send a UUV out. In most cases, the next thing that turns up is a team of divers to go down and classify the mine,’ he said.

Atlas Elektronik was able to remove the diver from the operational workflow. One of the main aims for many navies looking at

Saab Seaeye’s Double Eagle MkII is being used for Poland’s MCM programme. (Image: Saab)

and the unmanned MCM toolbox is entering the minefield.

‘The main aim [of the trials] was the technological consolidation of unmanned systems focused on the autonomous behaviour of AUVs, USVs and ROVs under the specific and complex environmental conditions of the North Sea,’ he explained.

The tests also evaluated the cooperative behaviour of different MCM systems, supported by the use of software tools and automatic target recognition algorithms.

Companies that took part included Atlas Elektronik, ECA Group and Northrop Grumman. The contract will be lucrative to the selected provider, as €932 million ($1.1 billion) of funding for the programme has been approved, according to Belgium’s strategic defence plan, published in June 2016 and confirmed in April 2017. This will cover a new mother ship as well as an unmanned toolbox.

During the demonstration, ECA Group deployed an Unmanned MCM Integrated System composed of an A9-M AUV and an Inspector USV with two SeaScan MK2 lightweight ROVs.

The A9 is a 70kg man-portable AUV that has already been selected by various NATO countries for MCM operations. ECA has also received an $11 million contract from an unnamed customer for the Inspector Mk2 to be used in an MCM role.

Atlas Elektronik showcased its Atlas Remote Combined Influence Minesweeping Systems (ARCIMS) USV fitted with its own SeaFox mine disposal system and a Northrop Grumman AQS-24B mine-hunting sonar. The ARCIMS AQS-24B

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programme will prepare the next generation of technologies of the Category B programme MCM, currently in the preparation phase for delivering an initial capacity by 2018.’ This is one of the agency’s largest projects.

Supply and demandPoland is also integrating unmanned systems into its MCM portfolio by introducing three new Kormoran II-class vessels that will incorporate hull-mounted and side-scan sonars, opto-electronics and positioning sensors. The minehunters will be equipped with various unmanned platforms, such as the Double Eagle MkII from Saab Seaeye, a specialised MCM ROV known as Morświn and the Gluptak mine-disposal vehicle, both developed at the Gdańsk University of Technology. Gluptak is a self-propelled mine counter-charge that can operate up to 400m from its source.

The Double Eagle MkII was chosen by the Polish Navy in 2014. It will become operational with the first of the Kormoran II-class vessels. The ROV is already in service with several navies in the

Baltic and North seas, with the former a key region of interest for Poland, which has a 32,800km² EEZ in the area.

Norway is assessing a similar model for its next-generation MCM capabilities, the Kongsberg Maritime Hugin 3000 AUV. With a depth rating of 3,000m, the system will be equipped with advanced sensors and deployed for the detection, classification and identification of mines.

The OEM received a contract to deliver four Hugins to the Norwegian Defence Materiel Agency in March 2017. These are expected to be handed over by 2018. Full operational capability of the Norwegian unmanned MCM concept is planned for 2028; initial operational capability will commence in 2025.

The Hugin is also being utilised by customers – including the Indonesian Navy – for oceanographic and hydrographic surveys. One of the largest operators of the type is US company SeaTrepid International, which provides unmanned underwater mapping and search capabilities. SeaTrepid bought six Hugin AUVs to be fitted with a multi-beam

echosounder, sub-bottom profiler and a colour camera.

France and the UK are also working on their own MCM programme, developed under a cooperation agreement in 2012. It aims to produce a prototype autonomous, remotely operated system for detection and neutralisation of sea mines and underwater IEDs. The next stage will see the manufacture of a complete system for assessment by the UK RN and the French Navy.

In September 2016, ASV was selected by a Thales-BAE Systems consortium to develop and deliver the first complete operational unmanned MCM system for the Anglo-French effort. Thales has provided hardware to the RN and French Navy for evaluation testing, including a USV with an autonomous navigation system, an obstacle detection and avoidance sonar, a threat identification and neutralisation capability based on ROVs, a towed synthetic aperture sonar and AUVs.

Collaborating with ASV, Thales participated in a number of work-up exercises last summer, which saw the Halcyon USV and towed-array sonar carry

Hugin 3000 AUVs will be delivered to Norway as part of the country’s wider plan to automate much of its MCM capability. (Photo: Kongsberg)

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out manoeuvres and data transmission tests off the UK’s south coast. The Halcyon was designed and built by ASV and has been equipped with Thales’ mission and autonomy management system.

The trials completed operator-planned missions controlled from a remote operations centre, providing oversight and control over a communications link. The exercise demonstrated how a USV can work autonomously with a multinational squad of UUVs.

Many unmanned systems in the maritime environment, like their airborne counterparts, have dual use depending on the payloads and modifications applied to them – configurations are usually determined upon customer request.

Atlas Elektronik has added a towed array sonar onto its ARCIMS, enabling the platform to be utilised for ASW operations. ‘[The platforms] are designed to be flexible so they do MCM,’ Sutcliffe explained. ‘There are two types of MCM: MCM sweep and MCM hunting mines. So ARCIMS can do both of those things but can also do ASW. We have also put a bi-static sonar on the back of ARCIMS so that it can go out and hunt submarines.

‘You’ll see from Unmanned Warrior there were some suppliers that took some slow UUVs, which towed the arrays on the back of them. If you were looking for something that is quite noisy then that would give you some benefit, but the approach we are taking is that submarines are becoming quieter. Therefore, you need a combination

of an active and a passive system. So, we put an active source with a towed-array sonar on the back of ARCIMS to give us advantage over very quiet submarines.’

The Active Towed Array Sonar (ACTAS) is a low-frequency ASW system that operates simultaneously in active and passive modes and provides high-resolution target detection. According to the company, ACTAS provides performance at very long ranges, including over-the-horizon surveillance.

‘We have sold a couple of those and we are in discussions with other customers on that system,’ said Sutcliffe.

Unresolved issues Despite the clear need and relevance of unmanned systems in the maritime sector, there could be legal dilemmas ahead, and consideration of the operating environment must be taken into account.

Most nations adhere to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), but since vessels are generally assumed to be manned by a crew, the legal waters can be muddied by the use of unmanned systems.

Helen Tung, a barrister and PhD researcher at the University of Greenwich, argued at the UDT Europe event in Germany that one of the main issues is that there is currently no exact means of identifying the owner of a UV that is operated in the maritime environment.

Furthermore, referring to the widely reported case of China seizing and later returning a USN Teledyne Slocum G2 Glider

UUV, she explained that there was no legal requirement for the platform to be returned. The navy said at the time that the glider, designed to provide low-cost persistent monitoring, was collecting oceanographic data. China has long been wary of military reconnaissance near its shoreline. This incident however, which occurred at the end of 2016, was within the EEZ of the Philippines and 1,000km from China’s coast.

Additionally, as technology advances and navies look towards autonomy of operations, companies are seeking to test and approve sense-and-avoid technologies within COLREG, the international regulations for preventing collisions at sea. Various international groups, including the MAS Regulatory Working Group (MASRWG) and AUVSI, are looking into ways of approving such systems.

In an effort to establish safe testing environments in the UK, the Solent Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) awarded BAE Systems a grant of £457,000 ($597,000) to design and deliver the UK’s first dedicated autonomous systems testing service in 2017. Customers will be able to conduct trials and test systems such as unmanned boats, air vehicles and sensors in a safe, controlled and realistic environment in the Solent.

BAE is to work with ASV Global, Blue Bear Systems Research, Marine Electronic Systems, SeeByte and the University of Southampton, and other organisations are set to join later in the year.

The contract comes off the back of BAE and its test service partners successfully demonstrating their autonomous maritime capabilities during the Unmanned Warrior exercise. BAE showcased its bespoke Autonomous Control Exploitation and Realisation system, which provides a flow of information from sensors on unmanned boats to crews on host warships.

Clearly a lot of investment is being put into the push towards unmanned technologies – recent demonstrations have required a lot of time, money and effort from companies. NSU MCM and Unmanned Warrior have shown the potential of unmanned systems in the maritime sector, and the future of many naval operations is sure to feature high levels of autonomy. ■

Northrop Grumman’s AQS-24B system is seen here hosted by the Atlas Elektronik ARCIMS platform. (Photo: Northrop Grumman)



Phase change

As DARPA’s Gremlins programme advances, Tim Keeter, deputy programme manager and chief engineer for the project at Dynetics, spoke to Richard Thomas about his company’s approach to the competition.

P hase 2 of DARPA’s Gremlins programme began in March this year, for which competing

companies will produce further detailed system designs as part of the overall effort to viably launch and recover swarms of UAS from airborne platforms. From the initial four teams, Dynetics is heading up one of just two that have progressed to Phase 2, a 12-month effort worth up to $21 million.

Scalable solutionHaving been awarded a contract for Phase 2, Dynetics officials said that the team is looking at maturing its concept in advance of Phase 3. Previous DARPA studies suggested that there is a continuum between a fully expendable system and the ‘expensive, monolithic manned and unmanned aircraft’, Keeter said.

‘One of the key things here is its limited-use design life, so you design it to be recovered, refurbed, sent back out there quickly but with limited reuse. You are not engineering it to be used thousands of times; you are engineering it to last 20 times.

‘There is something in here that is recoverable. [It is] pretty obvious when you look at this problem that the hard part about this isn’t “can you design a UAV?” People can do that. The hard part is, can you take a UAV – multiple ones – and have the precision of flight so they can be recovered safely into a manned aircraft,’ he explained.

Keeter reiterated that the challenge is the in-flight retrieval, or docking, of the UAS back to its host platform either under the wing, or into the back, of a C-130, and being able to do that ‘at a pretty high rate’. There is, however, a sense that the ageing but still

valued C-130 ‘is not the end game’, even though it is being used as a demonstrator aircraft for the programme.

‘Our take on that is that they label the recovery aircraft as the C-130. It is very available, and there are good reasons why they would do that, but if you look at the fundamental core technologies that are required to do this, you should be able to scale it to lots of different types of aircraft – manned and unmanned – for different-sized UAS.’

Ongoing developmentsDuring Phase 1, Dynetics designed flight demonstration concepts for launch and recovery techniques, low-cost limited airframe designs and high-fidelity analysis, precision digital flight control, relative navigation and station keeping.

Phase 2 concerns technology maturation, while Phase 3 will aim to finalise the design and ultimately demonstrate the ability to launch and safely recover Gremlins air vehicles. DARPA plans to award Phase 3 in early 2018.

‘The only direction that DARPA gave us is that this is not a payload programme – they have got payload programmes, they have got autonomy algorithm programmes – even though we have to have the throughput and computational power to support that kind of stuff,’ said Keeter. ‘They gave us a SWaP requirement for what kinds of payloads we need to be accommodating for, and they have left it to us to show them how we can accommodate them.’

While the expected timeline for the Gremlins programme is likely to be concluded after three to four years, it might

be that this is not long enough to create new technologies and capabilities in order to find a solution. Dynetics is looking at using existing and mature technologies and adapting them to the programme at hand.

‘This is what our company feels comfortable with. We are not one of the really large primes, we are fighting above our weight class a little bit and we expect that, but we have been doing this type of rapid integration demo-type work for over a decade now,’ stated Keeter. This work started with the Massive Ordinance Air Blast Munition, the first of which was dropped onto a target in Afghanistan this year. It was three months after the contract was awarded that the flight test took place.

‘Everybody wants more time. [Gremlins] has a pretty aggressive schedule and we are in a competition, which is a nice extra incentive to work harder and faster and to be more creative. I don’t think it hinders us but it kind of feels like something [Dynetics] can do well – we are moving up the food chain.

‘We are not about to generate the next [jet] fighter for you guys, at least not before I retire, but we feel like this pace is perfect for us,’ Keeter concluded. ▪

You are not engineering it

to be used thousands of times; you are engineering it to last 20 times.

INTERVIEW

Image: Dynetics

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