Surveillance: BAE Systems eyes UAV opportunities | ADM June 2009
The HERTI is already a vehicle for many UAV sensor and control technologies developed in Australia; the Mantis, or a future derivative, could be a contender for the RAAF's Project Air 7000 Ph.1B.
Gregor Ferguson | Sydney
A striking feature of the static display at this year's Australian International Air Show at Avalon was the BAE Systems exhibit of two UAV systems - the relatively well-known HERTI and the all-new, experimental Mantis.
HERTI was developed in the UK to help investigate UAV platform, sensor, networking, autonomous control and payload issues.
BAE Systems Australia at Abbottsford played a key role in developing its navigation, guidance and ground control systems.
The Australian team was responsible for development and supply of the Airborne Autonomous Vehicle Management System (VMS), development and supply of the complete ground control station, embedded simulators for mission rehearsal, training and integration testing, support to the systems engineering and integration activities and support to the flight test activities.
In November and December 2006 the HERTI flight test team completed fully autonomous flight trials at Woomera.
In addition to performance flight test missions for the UAV itself, the system successfully achieved a number of key milestones with its autonomous ICE (Image Collection & Exploitation) mission system.
The ICE system, developed jointly by BAE Systems' UK and Australian teams, successfully completed autonomous target searches for operationally representative targets set by the RAF Air Warfare Centre's UAV Battlelab as part of the joint industry/Royal Air Force ‘Project Morrigan'.
Last year, still under the aegis of Project Morrigan, HERTI was deployed to Afghanistan in a War Fighting Experiment with the Royal Air Force to prove safe autonomous operations alongside manned strike aircraft in non-segregated airspace.
This represents a significant achievement for BAE Systems Australia's Integrated Autonomous Systems (IAS) business.
Led from the UK by the BAE Systems Autonomous Systems and Future Capability (AS&FC) business, the IAS team has developed the HERTI UAV as a next-generation autonomous system.
The HERTI ground environment is based on the ISR Management System concept developed by BAE Systems Australia through a three year, internally funded R&D program and proven through earlier operations of the company's HERTI, Raven, Corax and Kingfisher Unmanned Aerial Systems.
The HERTI success is demonstrates the indigenous capability that BAE Systems Australia was able to bring to the Industry Capability Partner (ICP) role under Phase 1B of Project Air 7000.
This role hasn't materialised, thanks to the deferral of this phase of the project, but Defence's decision earlier this year to delay purchasing a High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) UAV may open the door to a possible sale of something like the company's Mantis UAV system.
The Mantis is an Advanced Concept Technology Demonstrator that will provide an opportunity for the UK MoD and British industry, including Qinetiq, Rolls-Royce, Selex Galileo, Meggitt and GE Aviation, to exploit emerging technologies, capabilities and systems.
It is funded 50:50 by industry and the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) which is in the process of drafting its requirements for a long-range deep and persistent ISTAR (Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance) UAV.
It will be required to carry out both land and maritime ISR with a flexible configuration able to carry a broad mix of both sensors and weapons.
No UAV exists at present with this mix of attributes.
The UK MoD announced at last year's Farnborough air show in July that BAE Systems would lead the Mantis industry team.
Its rapid development will provide indicators of how the MoD can improve the acquisition process to deliver capability swiftly into fast-changing military environments.
It will also help maintain UK indigenous capabilities in this rapidly evolving area.
Mantis is a spiral development program: Spiral 1, currently under way, is to develop the air vehicle and prove its performance and control system, in particular its ability to take off and land autonomously.
It is scheduled to make its first flight in mid-year at Woomera - hence its presence at Avalon.
The objectives of Spiral 2 are being refined at present and the timeframe will be agreed later this year.
BAE Systems wants to achieve a seamless shift from the first phase to the next to maintain the momentum of the program.
The Mantis incorporates low-cost advanced construction techniques and is designed for "plug and play" systems and equipment flexibility, as well as flexible external stores carriage.
It has twin ‘pusher' turboprop engines mounted high on the rear fuselage and a 22 metre wing span with wings stressed to carry a significant guided weapons payload: up to six Paveway laser-guided bombs or 12 Brimstone missiles, and wing tips strong enough to carry tip-mounted sensor pods.
The fuselage accommodates two belly-mounted sensor turrets; for the Spiral 1 program the front sensor is Wescam's MX-20 FLIR system; the rear turret is a stand-off ICE system with two wide field of view sensor windows with a 16 megapixel still camera behind each.
For Spiral 1, this sensor payload is relatively simple; once user requirements are defined in more detail the aircraft can be fitted with other sensors: its internal fuselage payload bay is scaled to accommodate a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) or maritime surveillance radar.
The platform is designed for a variety of mission profiles, including repeated climbs and descents, with a 40,000 ft altitude ceiling.
Its endurance is over 24 hours with a dash speed of 350kt.
It has a triplex flight control system for reliability and integrity, with full onboard autonomy to reduce operator workload.
The platform design will also help operators explore how a lower logistical footprint and increased ease of support could reduce through-life operating costs.
Importantly for the UAV community, it is designed to be compliant with the provisions of CAP722, the UK Civil Aviation Authority's certification regime for unmanned aircraft system operations in UK air space.
BAE Systems Australia has been responsible for the development, integration and support of the VMS - a significant element of Mantis's "smart autonomy" capability.
It was also responsible for the design and integration of the real-time elements of the Ground System (through which the operator interface is achieved).
The Mantis and HERTI ground environment is based on the ISR Management System concept developed by BAE Systems Australia through a three-year, internally funded R&D program, and proven through earlier operations of the BAE Systems HERTI, Raven, Corax and Kingfisher UASs.
The mission simulation and training system for Mantis and HERTI, which includes mission rehearsal and analysis capabilities, and the System Test Unit (STU) were also developed by BAE Systems Australia.
All these elements form part of the HERTI UAS baseline configuration that was deployed into Afghanistan.
It's too early yet to say whether Mantis in its current form could be a contender for Phase 1B of Project Air 7000, when this gets under way.
In all likelihood the aircraft will have evolved considerably by then; and at present the RAAF has no requirement for a ‘weaponised' UAV capability - Australia's concept of operations for maritime surveillance requires a man in the loop for any weapons engagement.
Nevertheless, Mantis appears to have some of the performance, endurance and payload flexibility the RAAF may require in Air 7000, and a derivative of Mantis could well be a contender to provide this capability.