The future for unmanned aerial vehicles in the U.S. Air Force Caracas, 26/05/2010, Aeroblog .- Article taken from Popular Mechanics magazine in English.
When the Air Force released its latest Flight Plan for 2047, that contained a surprise: Less robotic planes and more pilots acting on their own. Will you accept the central of the Air Force a future with fewer booths and be ready for UAV's that can open fire on their own, without human precision?
Like his namesake of waterfowl, the Heron UAV (Seagull in Israel) has an excellent vision of a hunter. Today the Israeli UAV 27 feet long is making a rare U.S. flight, using a high definition camera to track a speed boat, sailing across the river in Maryland Patatuxent. The camera switches to infrared eye charts and a laser rangefinder in an area of \u200b\u200b17 "mounted under the nose of the aircraft. The UAV camera and can be rotated independent from each other, to keep track of the boat below, you do not need sticks linked by satellite. In the Patuxent River, a Coast Guard team patrol boat used in video transmission in real time, from the Hero, to keep following the boat you want to track.
Less than 5 miles away, a few hundred spectators watch streaming video on a large color monitor. The Heron is just one of about a dozen UAV's doing flight demonstrations.
The crowd, look at the giant screen as the two boats are (the boat tracked and Coast Guard), and supplement the mock interception. The scene where the river turns as the Heron banked and withdrawn from the boats, returning to the airfield.
The unmanned aircraft are the biggest thing that has happened in military aviation since the geometry poaching, and the High Command of the Air Force is dramatically increasing its fleet of UAV's this year. However, the service is up in arms about how the technology could be maximized in the future. "Today, the evolution of the machine is the beginning of the ability to deport people who can give them." The Head of the High Command of the Air Force Gen. Norton Schwartz, said late last year in a discourse of the Air Force Association: "We must now consider the relationship ..."
Under his leadership, the Air Force is trying to become the leader of the future development of UAV's in the Pentagon. Shwartz The main tool is the "Flight Plan for Unmanned Aircraft Systems, 2009-2047", which is a comprehensive look at how the U.S. military can expand the use of UAV's in the next 38 years. The Air Force has proposed the use of unmanned aircraft of new generation, as new missions including air attacks, refueling in air freight and long distance bombing.
But what such freedom is ready the Air Force unmanned aircraft? Its pilots now are beginning to accept the UAV's - they fly daily in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa and elsewhere hostile - but implemented a vision that not only marginalizes the pilots, but also seeks to supplant Ground Crew with automation. The highly trained people today do not share this vision. An Air Force officer working with unmanned aircraft, would say only that supports the report because "it's a plan." And having a plan is better than not having one.
TOYS INADAP results, FRONTLINE FOR HEROES. The Air Force has wasted decades "of opportunities that are worthwhile, that make the U.S. military to lead the development of UAV's from the 70's, the service experimented with unmanned surveillance aircraft in Vietnam but rejected all under the grounds that the technology did not show significant improvements over manned aviation. The continuing improvement in Soviet fighters like MiG range, kept the line of the Cold War air superiority aircraft High performance, professional racers.
The idea of \u200b\u200bunmanned aircraft, is also unethical central flyer, defined from the Air Force became a separate military branch in 1947. The magazine AviationWeek and Space Technology in 1973 quoted an Air Force officer, giving his verdict on the remote-controlled warplanes: "How can you be a tiger sitting behind a console?" This attitude proves to be short of vision. In 1982, Israel used to detect radar UAV Syrians in Lebanon, but the status quo in the United States continued for another decade. The Pentagon began investigating to mid 90's, but even so the foundations were not solid, partly by generating programs of manned aviation jobs in Washington.
Guerrillas in Iraq and Afghanistan changed all this, the need for a constant video stream caused an increase in spending on UAV. Confronted with insurgents who blend into the local population, adequate intelligence worth more than even the smartest bomb. In 2010, the Defense Department will spend slightly more than 5 billion dollars in the development, acquisition and operation of unmanned aircraft, about 2 billion more than intended by the army in UAV during the nineties.
This boom caused disputes within the Pentagon. Branches of the military rarely d weapons systems develop together, despite the potential savings in time and money when services share research costs and order the hardware volume. The Air Force wants to coordinate the development of UAV's in the Pentagon and developed an ambitious flight plan to describe how the service would operate as the main guide to the Pentagon for the development of unmanned aircraft, in conjunction with the Army, Navy and Marine Corps. "The Flight Plan is part of an effort by the Air Force for control of everything that flies, has a pilot or not," said Jim Dunnigan, analyst soldier and writer.
The Unmanned Aircraft Systems Task Force (Task Force Unmanned Aerial Systems), creator of the plan, is headquartered in a modest office that occupies only a small part of a floor in a small building in Crystal City, Virginia. The full-time staff is small, but members of the National Guard and Air Force Reserve occupy administrative positions. Dozens of planners who cover two jobs while at the Pentagon, working as volunteers for the task force, forgetting his free time just to have the opportunity to work on a project with the great luminaries in the Air Force Headquarters who advise enthusiastic teams.
daily work is supervised by the director of the task force, Col. Eric Mathewson. The ex-pilot of an F - 16 is a compact man with a soft voice that always seems to be serious. Often, Mathewson puts a hand on his head while talking, as if ideas could escape from his temples. "It was evident that we were reagents, reagents, reagents," exclaims Mathewson. "It was time to develop a vision."
That vision depends on the development of an unmanned aircraft capable of making smarter decisions of life or death battle itself. According to the Flight Plan for end of the year, the UAV will demonstrate a "sense" and have systems to avoid collisions. The unmanned aircraft will be able to replenish each other in 2030. For 2047, projected to have the ability to deliver a global hit perhaps with nuclear weapons. "As technology advances, the machines will perform some automatic repairs while in flight," establishing the Plan. "The routine ground maintenance will be performed by machines without the help of man." The Air Force document not only discusses topics that were once taboo, such as automatic target search and autonomous UAV flight in commercial air space, but also includes recommendations and short-term goals in order to make feasible some day.
Mathewson said that by 2020 a single operator to control (air or ground-based) can control several UAVs simultaneously. At present, the ground control operators, even when they have the help of an advanced autopilot, continuously monitor a single UAV. This level of direct control and supervising known as man-in-the-loop. But a single robotic system that alerts humans when it is necessary to take a crucial decision known as man-on-the-loop. A ground control operator can choose to redrigir the UAV or take direct control to make the decision key. "In my opinion it is no exaggeration to say that is a revolution in military affairs," said Mathewson. "The revolution is a conscious application of automated technology."
ROBOT-ASSISTED STROKE AIR.
controllers man-on-the-loop could cause a battlefield looked like this: a fighter F-35 Lightning II crosses the night sky. The pilot's mission is simple: to destroy an enemy bunker protected by a network of radars and batteries of anti-aircraft missiles. Its three operators, one flying a few feet away, another 241 km further and the third preparation to cause a deviation to the east, following a meticulous battle plan designed to overcome such defenses. Of the four planes in the attack group, only the F-35 has a walk, the rest are semi-autonomous UAV to which the pilot must trust his life.
One of the most dangerous missions of military aviation is the SEAD (Supremasión of enemy air defenses). The main UAV becomes bait to fly within the radar range anti-aircraft missile batteries. An icon on the virtual screen on the head of F-35 pilot, projected on his helmet (HMD Head Mounted Display), he warns that the unmanned aircraft SED identifies Auto emissions from enemy radar site. This is the first time the SEAD aircraft communicates with a human.
Miles away from danger, the pilot of the F-35A coolly assesses the situation shown in one of the screens in your car, confirms the White & ligitimidad the leader allows the UAV to open fire. The anti-radiation missile at high speed to high speed AGM-88 is the radar waves to its origin, destroying the disc and its operators. Then the screen goes blank and the pilot directs the UAV to return to base.
Meanwhile, another UAV to the target, which sails to use a combination of information from the GPS and accelerometer, is busy confuendiendo other radar installations and it fills the sky with emissions that share the radar frequency. Disturbance boxes under the wings of the UAV also disrupt radio transmissions from the air defense network, they cover the loss of contact repenteina radar sites that protect the bunker. Otherwise, the enemy commander might discover location of the actual attack. After a pre-set time during which spreads confusion, the UAV returns to base.
Pilot F35-A target Aceca quickly and needs to direct Carefully target system electro-optical F-35 to launch a bomb that hit the structure at an angle calculated to collapse it without you destroy civilian buildings nearby. Shoot the laser pointer and authorizes unmanned aircraft located in the vicinity to drop a few bombs, which use fins to move towards the target designated by the laser. The pilot observes the two blasts occurring, quickly assessed the damage caused by the battle and, satisfied, tilt the plane and returned to base. Its robotic pilot follows his orders, flying to one side.
skeptical view
IN FRONT.
Perhaps it is difficult to perceive the vision of the flight plan of autonomous robots from intensive work on the Base Creech Air Force Base in Nevada. The base in the desert experienced an unprecedented boom to accommodate the ever-expanding project 432nd Air Expeditionary Win, the only one devoted exclusively to fly unmanned aircraft. Each aircraft and each ground control station linked to a satellite is used to flying missions in the Middle East, the Horn of Africa and points beyond. The new buildings are filled with staff as soon as you lower the construction dust. "Every time the tank gets larger, the fish grow too much for her," says Col. Peter Gersten, commander of the 432nd. Mathewson served as commander at Creech dome group before the arrival of Gersten, but now promotes ways to replace pilots with artificial intelligence.
Where a driver is replaced by a machine, Air Force reduce the arena of health benefits, retention and recruitment base. The current unmanned systems require the same number of people, if not more, to fly missions that the aircraft operated by pilots. For example, it takes a crew of three people to operate a Reaper, even if it on autopilot, one to fly, one to operate the field with the sensor in the nose ship and a third who serves as a military intelligence liaison. Other two must operate at the airfield to guide the UAV, using line of sight radios during takeoff and landing. By replacing these positions with automated features, the cost of joystick operators could collapse.
But Gersten, who calls these unmanned aircraft "remotely operated vehicle" to emphasize the participation of operators, gives no human control over the ships, unless it offers a clear advantage in combat. For example, the flight plan expected by the end of 2010, the landing and takeoff dean auntónomos Reaper, but not urgent Gersten this skill. In fact, facing a series of accidents during the landing, Gersten chose a solution to help the operator of the joystick, not replace it.
The landing gear would collapse even if the UAV Gersten bounce on the track. The operators have been difficult to find the correct angle of the nose after a UAV wheels bounce off the track, this causes fluctuations can destroy the ship in the third or fourth bounce. The seemingly obvious solution: set the machines to take off and land automatically, something that the Army's Sky Warrior, almost identical to the Predator, it's been. But Gersten opted for a simpler solution: add trianular carrot icon on the screen of flight control that adjusts the angle right to avoid the onset of the oscillation cycle. This change will take place in the ground control stations this year, and Gersten says that "the cost is minimal."
Gersten's reaction to the Flight Plan is very responsive (squints against the contents of the report, it suggests that someday the UAV could carry nuclear weapons.) The lower ranks at the bottom are more skeptical Aceca of autonomy. Jessie Grace, sensor operators at Creech instructor, has spent many hours with tired wrists to try to train the camera of a UAV on a vehicle that will serve white or tired eyes from the screen for subtle signs of insurgent activity. Although it states that could handle more than one plane at a time, Grace sees things differently when it comes to their specialty. "I can not imagine a computer doing intelligence work, exploration and appreciation better than a person," he adds.
Mathewson mentioned requirements baalla field as the main obstacle to the flight plan, but notes that the inflexible attitudes are another stumbling block. "We see a cultural resistance," said Mathewson. "It is the same as with the Kabbalah for the introduction of the tank."
INSTINCTS SCHEDULED MURDERERS.
to the flight plan, it was almost impossible to find even officers who analyze the possibility of the existence of unmanned aircraft to fire their weapons without the permission of humans. But the report states that by 2030, flying robots can be programmed with skills for "automatic commitment to whites." A UAV will fire only after a checklist covering the technical details of its sensors, the rules previously established. This system would be the successor to those used in the Patriot anti-aircraft batteries and some of the Navy. The Patriot legacy is mixed. Duranet Gulf War, the system shot down a pair of friendly aircraft, killing one American and two British pilot, after the aircraft to confuse enemy missiles. Many military officers failed a test automation, but analysts said the lack of training led to dependence and was the root cause of the tragedies.
Mathewson said that keeping people directly involved at the end of the chain of death is optional, but preferred. "There are many cases where they have the freedom to shoot, in which the system is fully automated," he explains. "If you look at the way we use the unmanned aircraft in flight today, the rules of engagement require that someone (in charge at the back) should approve it, saying: "Yes, it is free to proceed. And it will be right."
Although, usually, is proud Gersten, former pilot of F-16 can be moralistic to argue with a humbra command of a system capable of killing their targets. "Military operations should be humanists," he exclaims. "The human value requires a human interface." It is his way of saying that even enemies deserve a real person, not an algorithm, whoever takes the decision to kill. - Joe Pappalardo PM
