View from the Labs

How Can We Help Our Unmanned Aerial Systems Become Our “Loyal Wingmen?”

By CAPT George Galdorisi, USN (Ret.)

In the previous issue of Rotor Review, we addressed the theme of that issue, “UAVs and You,” and talked about UAVs in general and how they are beginning to become a substantial percentage of naval aviation. The MQ-4C Triton, MQ-8C Fire Scout and MQ-25 Stingray are the prime examples. We examined how these UAVs can take on missions that manned aircraft previously performed. The theme of this issue of Rotor Review is “Force of the Future.” That is a perfect segue to what we will address in this column. When we think of UAVs, we typically think of the unmanned aerial system as an entity unto itself. That is okay as far as it goes.

In order to optimize the contributions UAVs can make to our rotary wing community and to naval aviation writ large, it is important that we think of them not just as that “thing,” but as loyal wingman to our manned platforms. Indeed, DoD’s “Third Offset Strategy” calls out the P-8 Poseidon-MQ-4C Triton and MH-60 (Seahawk or Nighthawk)-MQ-8C Fire Scout as the epitome of manned-unmanned teaming.

While this is a vision, it cannot be achieved until we make our UAS smarter and therefore more autonomous. We need to put the era of “One UAV, many people, many joysticks,” behind us and enhance the “brains” of our UAVs. The way to do this is by using big data, artificial intelligence and machine learning to enable our UAVs to “up their games” and become our loyal wingmen.

Which brings me back to our 2021 NHA Symposium (and massive kudos to the NHA Staff and countless volunteers who made this all work). Here is some of what I took away from the event that directly applies to what it takes to make our UAVs loyal wingmen that will give us an edge in combat.

The importance of focusing on a small bundle of technologies to ensure that the Navy can prevail in tomorrow’s fight was emphasized by the Vice Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral William Lescher, in his keynote address at Symposium when he said:

“The four pillars of the CNO’s NAVPLAN are: readiness, capability, capacity and Sailors. There are four cross-cutting technologies critical to supporting these pillars: unmanned systems, artificial intelligence, machine learning and mannedunmanned teaming.”

This address by our first rotary wing four-star put a punctuation mark on what can be accomplished if we use these emerging technologies to enhance the capabilities of our UAVs, in order to achieve optimal man-machine teaming and make these capable platforms our loyal wingmen.

During the Symposium Flag Panel, our senior leaders in Naval Aviation said a number of things that applied directly to the VCNO’s remarks:

• Manpower currently consumes 70% of the Department of the Navy’s budget. • Naval Aviation is on a glideslope to be approximately 40% unmanned circa 2035.

• Current Navy UAS are not really autonomous, but require one or more operators “hands-on” at all times.

• The DoD’s “Third Offset Strategy” emphasizes man-unmanned teaming as a central concept. •

The P-8 Poisiden-MQ-4C Triton and the MH-60 Seahawk-MQ-8C Fire Scout are held out as exemplars of mannedunmanned teaming.

Taken together, it is clear that the senior leaders in our Naval Aviation Enterprise “get” the importance of making our UAVs loyal wingmen to our manned aircraft. However, along with these positive statements, what we didn’t hear at the Symposium suggests that we still have a great deal of work to do to achieve this desired end state. Here is what I did not hear:

• I did not hear that there is a plan to leverage big data, artificial intelligence and machine learning to make Naval Aviation’s UAS more autonomous

• I did not hear that there is a concurrent plan to enable Triton and Fire Scout to perform discrete tasks, without direction, once on-station.

• I did not hear that there is a plan to enable Triton and Fire Scout to curate data aboard the platform, rather than send terabytes of data down a link.

• I did not hear that there is a plan to have Triton and Fire Scout communicate directly with their respective manned aircraft.

• I did not hear that there is a plan (or even a desire) to achieve manned-unmanned teaming with the P-8 Poisiden-MQ4C Triton and the MH-60R/S-MQ-8C.

This summary isn’t intended to be gloom and doom. To be fair, our Naval Aviation UAVs are relatively new, and upgrades will need to evolve over time once the basic platform is in the hands of our operators and valuable feedback is obtained.

However, all that said, we are all in this together. If we wait for “them” to work on these issues they may not ever get addressed. Those of you wearing flight suits are the best ones to ask for these solutions – and the sooner the better.

Timeline of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in the U.S. Navy

Triton over Pt. MuguFire Scout MQ-8C at North Island

Fire Scout MQ-8C at NAS North Island