Page 5 - Aerotech News and Review, September 17, 2021

Northrop Grumman envisions UAV future now

by Larry Grooms strated that the technology allows uncrewed air-
special to Aerotech News craft to gather information regarding the enemy
by observing their behavior and tracking move-
PALMDALE, Calif.—Twenty-eight years af- ments, thereby allowing commanders to stay
ter introducing Global Hawk to the world, execu- three steps ahead of the enemy, while easily and
tives of Northrop Grumman and its wholly-owned securely sharing mission-critical data across air,
Scaled Composites design and fabrication partner land, sea and space to speed up decision timelines
invited a group of aviation writers to its Air Force and maintain a strategic advantage in an age of
Plant 42 production center, for a preview of some data-driven conflict.
next big things in the world of crewed and un- Ultimately, however, that real-time intelligence-
crewed air warfare. gathering and secure transmission software de-
A global media release from Northrop Grum- pends on having the mix of robust and survivable
man headquarters at mid-morning announced that flying hardware to penetrate a full range of en-
the company successfully demonstrated a data link vironments, from benign to fiercely hostile. And
for connecting aircraft in highly contested airspace therein lies the challenge of having enough of the
for long-range command and control through an right kind of aircraft to affordably meet constantly
open architecture network. changing mission demands. The logical and now
The statement termed the experiment as a technologically feasible and affordable solution,
critical milestone in the evolution of a distributed NG executives point out, is producing aircraft that
multi-domain battle management command and have the flexibility to be quickly transformed to
control architecture that maintains decision supe- meet the necessary mission parameters, and the
riority for the U.S. military and allies. additional capability to be optionally piloted ve-
“Northrop Grumman technologies, built on hicles.
advanced low size, weight and power electron- Northrop Grumman photograph And yes, they do have those capabilities in ex-
ics, enable integrated and secure communications The all-composites Model 401. isting airframes that can be converted from crewed
across domains supporting the Department of De- to remotely piloted or autonomously operated and
fense’s JADC2 strategy,” said Tom Pieronek, chief and act loop – the decision-making chain for threat detection characteristics that includes anti-jam back again in hours and minutes or no more than
technology officer and vice president, research and engagements. properties. a day or two, and by a pair of technicians using
technology. He said, “Northrop Grumman remains Terming it a key step toward harnessing the The aircraft established a link and performed simple hand tools. Such planes already exist at
committed to delivering capabilities that main- power of a network into critical domains for na- a simulated Intelligence, Surveillance and Re- Northrop Grumman. As reporters dismounted the
tain strategic advantage for the U.S. and its allies tional security missions, the company said the connaissance (ISR) Mission in which battlefield vans on the ramp outside a Site 7 hangar, they
across all domains and against all adversaries.” flight demonstration linked the Scaled Compos- commanders get relevant planning information were greeted with a low-level fly-by of an all-
The flight demonstration is the first integration ites Proteus, a High-Altitude, Long-Endurance from decoded communications, intercepting
of a new mission-specific military transceiver, research aircraft, with a Firebird, an unmanned plans, strategies and resources connected back to composites-built N-401 — piloted, in this case.
multi-level security data switches, and open ar- air vehicle with the capability to be flown manned, a cloud-based 5G network testbed through a novel Inside the hangar was a twin sibling with the hu-
man element removed, extending both its range
chitecture wide-area networking, utilizing com- through an advanced line-of-sight data link with prototype multi-level security switch.
mercial technology into the observe, orient, decide low probability of intercept/low probability of In short, the Northrop Grumman test demon- See NORTHROP GRUMMAN, Page 7

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