Page 81 - AA 2018_09

Drone literate

project, LAND 129 Phase 3, to deliver
a replacement for Shadow from
2022-23.
Recognising the capability’s
importance, the government has given
the go-ahead for acquisition of three
systems, allowing double the rate of
effort.
Currently a single Shadow could
fly 24/7 for 365 days a year over a
single area of interest in a place like
Afghanistan.
In practical terms, doubling
the rate of effort would allow two
aircraft to operate simultaneously,
doubling the area of coverage in a
brigade operational area measuring
150 kilometres by 150 kilometres.
That goes some way to fulfilling the
insatiable desire for intelligence and
surveillance.
This project kicked off late last year
and is now heading to Gate 1, with a
range of studies under way to assess Black Hornet is a tiny sparrow-
desired capability, ability to operate now is the Wescam MX-10S,” LTCOL sized helicopter UAS able to Group (DST) is looking at future
in non-military airspace, Australian Joyce said. peer over a compound wall, hyper-spectral payloads, able to image
across the electro-magnetic spectrum,
industry involvement, facilities and “Right now on Exercise Hamel, we through a window or into a not just visible light and infrared
just what’s available out there on the have our S-100 Troop flying our leased bands.
market. There’s a lot. S-100s with a MX10 payload and we treeline. defence Army is also looking at a synthetic
“Right now we are looking at are learning all about it. aperture radar (SAR) and also some
everything that could replace Shadow. LTCOL Joyce says MX10 is about off-the-shelf electronic warfare
That includes everything from a the same size as the Shadow gimbal direction-finding payloads, able to
20 kilogram Scan Eagle all the way which is more than 10 years old. locate hostile emissions.
up to a US Navy-developed Firescout “This is a 2018 contemporary “We are in this game to learn quick
Charlie. We have identified 16 10-inch package. We are learning lessons relatively cheaply to inform
candidate aeroplanes that could do the about the technology change that we our follow-on decisions.”
job,” he said. are already confronting and what 2018 So could the eventual capability
That list could well include Scan era technology can do to our mission LTCOL Keirin Joyce, far right, with involve a mix of rotary and fixed-wing
Eagle, Scan Eagle 3, Integrator, effectiveness and our employment members of the newly-formed UAVs? LTCOL Joyce doesn’t think so.
Aerosonde, Arcturus Jump 20, L3 concepts,” he said. Australian Army Drone Racing “Army likes to keep things simple.
FBR-90, Resolute Eagle, Northrop There are other possible payloads. Even though we are expanding the
Grumman Bat, Schiebel S-100, Saab The Defence Science and Technology Association. defence
Skeldar, Leonardo Hero, Firescout B,
Firescout C, Shadow and Gray Eagle.
All are able to service a brigade
area of operations, provide six or more
hours endurance and carry multiple
payloads.
LTCOL Joyce said that such
a wide field of candidate systems
needed to be narrowed down
and one of the mechanisms was
some experimentation, riding on
Australian Navy trials with the
Schiebel Camcopter S-100. That’s a
200-kilogram rotary-wing UAV able
to stay aloft for six hours.
Under the Navy contract, the Army
is able to rent a Schiebel to conduct
its own trials of a UAV which doesn’t
need a runway.
And because S-100 is very widely
used, many countries have already
developed many different payloads.
“So we can also rent a range of
advanced payloads to trial. We think
the best 10-inch optics gimbal running
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