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There were plenty of big names at Avalon – F-35s, Hornets, and a B-52 – that wowed onlookers with thunderous acrobatic displays, in-flight refuelling demonstrations, and more.

Some of these aircraft are set to be in service for decades. Yet even as the first Australian F-35s make their Avalon debut, the number of unmanned platforms on show made these big names look like relics-in-waiting.

One reveal in particular cast a long shadow on the future of manned aircraft – Boeing’s ‘Loyal Wingman’ Airpower Teaming System (Project 6014 Phase 1), a semi-autonomous, possibly armed drone designed to fly and fight alongside F-35s and other aircraft, reducing the risk to manned platforms and acting as a force multiplier. Fully designed and developed in Australia, it is the largest investment Boeing has ever made in an unmanned platform outside the US.

According to Boeing, the system will provide ‘fighter-like performance’ and ‘disruptive air superiority’ to protect Australia’s warplanes. It measures 11.7 metres in length and uses a “very light commercial jet engine” and AI to fly up to 2,000 nautical miles independently or in support of manned aircraft, with ISR and EW capabilities on board. It is designed with air intakes on the side rather than the top, suggesting a design with manoeuvre in mind. Boeing would not comment on top speed or runway requirements, but did note that “it needs to keep up with who it flies with – we can’t slow down the platform we’re supporting.” The option to equip weapons is ‘up to the customer’, although Boeing would not be drawn on further details.

The question of why it is necessary for a manned platform to accompany a swarm of Loyal Wingmen – which are capable of being controlled from the ground – also went unanswered.

Defence is investing $40 million in the platform across five years under the minors framework, whilst Boeing has invested a “significant” sum and would not answer questions on whether the US government had also chipped in. Other countries have reportedly shown ‘significant interest’. Sixteen local companies have contributed to the project, which also involves a factory to be based in Australia (location undecided) that is currently prototyped. ADM understands that Australia was particularly suitable for certifying the Wingman – a challenge given the experimental nature of the aircraft – thanks to low population density.

“There is significant value investing in innovative, future leaning initiatives like this, particularly in the early conceptual stages where Defence can explore concepts and define the role such capabilities can play in our national security framework,” Minister for Defence Christopher Pyne said.

Triton
Another of RAAF’s most significant unmanned acquisitions are six MQ-4C Tritons, announced in June last year. The aircraft will be based at RAAF Edinburgh in SA and RAAF Tindal in NT to undertake maritime surveillance operations - cruising at 310 knots for up to 24 hours at 46,000 feet, 11,000 kilometres from home, with a 400 kilometre sensor range – to complement RAAF’s new P-8A Poseidons.

According to GPCAPT Jason Lind, Director of ISR, EW and Space for RAAF, the platform is also defined by ability to plug into other 5th Gen platforms: “It’s the networking we’re interested in – using the combat cloud to improve our decision superiority.”

As part of the acquisition, Australia is entering into a $200 million cooperative program with the US Navy to develop, produce, and sustain the Triton: an approach that requires RAAF to take on a degree of risk in exchange for ‘small’ influence to shape the program towards Australian requirements.

“The Cooperative Program is different to an FMS in that we’re a partner,” GPCAPT Martin Nussio, Director ISR for CASG, explained. “In this case, the decision [to enter a cooperative program] was to do with where Triton is at in its development cycle. They wanted to commit to the program, but wait a while longer to commit to the remaining aircraft.

“That means we share risk, but also share reward. We can get capabilities earlier and have some small influence for Australian requirements. We have eight Australian personnel who are not embedded… they are actually threaded through the US team. So it’s genuinely a cooperative partnership. It’s a different way of acquiring.”

ADM can also confirm that the option for a seventh Triton is very much on the table as an attrition aircraft, although a decision on further platforms awaits the next White Paper.

“We’ve committed to six, but we’ll be looking at attrition aircraft later,” GPCAPT Lind said. “If another White Paper were to come out then maybe it would be a different decision, but for now it is six with the attrition aircraft question down the track.

That’s the government’s prerogative.”

Small drones
Small drones were also on show with Army’s Drone Racing Team back for a rematch against the Kiwi team and current civilian world champions, Australian teenagers Rudi Browning and Tom Bitmatta.

“Just having [Army] backing us from a community standpoint – it’s mind-boggling,” Bitmatta said. “We’ve got proper military teams. They aren’t military people trying to do drone racing – they’re actual drone racers who are in the military. They’re trying to push as hard as we are, and they’re fast.”

ADM took the opportunity to catch up with self-described UAS fanatic LTCOL Keirin Joyce about progress on the various small platforms currently rolled out across Army.

“Phantom is going really well,” LTCOL Joyce said. “Units are already staffing capability proposals to us about things they’ve experimented with.

“One example is using drone technology for explosive ordnance disposal. One of the options we’re going to experiment with is using a commercial off-the-shelf drone with a commercial off-the-shelf fishing kit and a commercial detonation device to completely remove the human from that activity.”

LTCOL Joyce also updated ADM on the Shadow 200 replacement.

“Shadow’s replacement project is running,” LTCOL Joyce said. “We’re going through Gate 1 approvals right now. We’ve just delivered an industry briefing – we’re going to increase the capability from two to three operating batteries, we’re going to ask for more advanced payloads. That’s why we’re learning about synthetic aperture radar, multi-spectral, EW, and photogrammetry over the last year.

“We also want a solution that is runway-independent. We’re working towards supporting an amphibious task group as well, so we want to get to a point where we can launch and recover from our amphibious ships.”

RAN representatives on Sea 129 Phase 5 addressed the maritime tactical UAS (MTUAS) capability in an industry briefing. Specifications included a fully-containerised solution that ‘may’ involve targeting and EW capabilities. The project team is not constrained to a staged acquisition or to a single platform, but is considering a capability partner approach that would see industry fully integrate the platform onto both the OPVs and possibly RAN’s large surface combatants in what could be a 20 to 30-year relationship.

RAN’s emphasis on a solution that can fully integrate onto ships with minimal fuss, however, raises the issue of how to create competitive tension. As Saab is responsible for combat management system (CMS) tactical interfaces on numerous RAN ships, including the Hunter-class, any MTUAS platform that is not the Skeldar V-200 (developed by Saab) may carry additional costs and risks.

“It is our combat management system,” James Lawless of Saab said. “Navy doesn’t want a lot of federated systems throughout a ship. Ideally we would have a sensor payload directly interfaced into the CMS.”

Could another competitor build that into Saab’s CMS?

“They could, but it’s a higher risk proposal and then you’ve got issues around IP and data sharing. So you could, and we will do that with certain bespoke software, but when you talk about actual sensors and integration it would be adding an extra layer in there.”

UAS industry
ADM also spoke to companies responsible for manufacturing UAS parts, such as NSW SME Quickstep. The composites manufacturer won the 2018 NSW Defence Industries Exporter of the Year and is in discussions with General Atomics (GA) to participate in Australia’s future Reaper drone program. The company’s ability to offer GA a low-cost solution for Reaper, however, depends on whether GA offers Quickstep a sufficiently high-volume global contract.

“We don’t want it just for the Australian fleet,” CEO Mark Burgess said. “We’d rather have a smaller work statement for global supply than a bigger work statement just for the Australian fleet. It’s economies of scale. That would be a sufficiently high volume that there’s a business case to automate parts of the process. So it very much depends on the statement of work that they offer.”

A second SME looking to tap into the burgeoning UAS market is Adelaide-based Praxis Aeronautics, run by founder Cameron Donaldson, a former shipwright, and Managing Director Katie Donaldson. The company are unique in their ability to integrate solar energy harvesting cells directly into composites used to build UAS and other unmanned systems – a process refined from Cameron’s earlier work building fiberglass boat hulls. The innovation allows for significant weight savings and allows UAS to improve performance by up to a staggering 300 per cent.

“It’s generally two to three times the range,” Cameron said. “A proof of concept achieved 350 per cent of the range in good conditions, but generally we achieve 200 to 300 per cent improvement. That’s not just coming from us, that’s something that [customers] are finding as well.”

This article first appeared in the April 2019 edition of ADM.

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