Page 12 - ADT APRIL - MAY 2021 Online Magazine

Teaming (MUMT) trials in the UK, between
a Leonardo AW159 Wildcat helicopter and
a semi-autonomous UAV from Callen-Lenz
Associates. MUMT is when a helicopter crew
controls a UAV from the helicopter like it was
an onboard sensor being controlled from the [ ROTOCRAFT ]
cockpit. The demonstration ran on behalf of the
British Army and with support of the Defence
Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL)
and took place on Salisbury Plain. The demon-
stration was part of the British Army’s MUMT
themed Army Warfighting Experiment (AWE)
19. This successful demonstration will inform
the UK MoD and Leonardo with their future
MUMT capability roadmap. The continued
development and integration of cutting-edge
solutions across all domains of remotely-piloted
and autonomous/semi-autonomous systems
Thales with support of the UK Ministry of Defence, over a 2-week and technologies, including MUM-T, is a key
period from 27 April to 7 May 2020. “The successful firings from the element of Leonardo’s BeTomorrow2030
AW159 Wildcat, further demonstrate that the Martlet missile will be Strategic Plan.
a flexible and effective tool for the Royal Navy as the Wildcat fleet
embarks on its carrier strike mission with the HMS Queen Elizabeth Leonardo was able to minimise the pilots’
next year for its maiden operational deployment. As the only workload by integrating control of the UAV
British company to design and manufacture helicopters on-shore, into the Wildcat Mission System, thereby allow-
we’re extremely proud to be equipping the UK Armed Forces with ing them to focus more on the mission whilst
world-beating sovereign capabilities,” said Nick Whitney, Managing simultaneously controlling the UAV. A ‘Gateway
Director of Leonardo Helicopters (UK). Processor’ supplied by Callen-Lenz Associates
was used to interface with its semi-autono-
“THE SUCCESSFUL LIVE FIRINGS OF THE THALES mous UAV. Bryan Finlay, Technical Partner at
Defence Science and Technology Laboratory
LMM MARTLET FROM THE AW159 WILDCAT IS A (Dstl), stated: “Leonardo and Callen-Lenz have
KEY MILESTONE IN THE PROGRAMME, DELIVERING delivered a fantastic demonstration of the inte-
A SIGNIFICANT STEP-CHANGE IN CAPABILITY FOR gration of a UAV control station into the mission
THE PLATFORM. LMM MARTLET WILL ENSURE THAT management system of the Wildcat helicop-
ter. The clever design of the human machine
THE WILDCAT HAS THE BEST-IN-CLASS OFFENSIVE interface means that cockpit workload is well
CAPABILITY TO PROTECT HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH managed and the demonstration has success-
AND HER TASK GROUP DURING HER MAIDEN fully de-risked that technology. This is a key
OPERATIONAL DEPLOYMENT NEXT YEAR. WITH step towards realising an effective operational
MUMT capability.”
EACH PLATFORM CAPABLE OF CARRYING UP TO
20 MARTLET, THE WILDCATS DEPLOYED WITH THE This demonstration of integrated capabilities
TASK GROUP WILL BE A SIGNIFICANT DETERRENT between a manned aircraft and an unmanned
TO ANYONE WISHING TO INTERFERE WITH UK aerial vehicle (UAV), was a UK first in which
there was a seamless integration of a UAV
INTERESTS.” Philip McBride, General Manager, into a helicopter’s mission system, allowing a
Integrated Airspace-protection Systems, Thales UK. helicopter crew to control a UAV from the cock-
pit, as if it was one of the aircraft’s on-board
The LMM affords a decisive advantage not only for the Royal sensors. The benefit of pairing a helicopter
Navy but potentially for other export customers of the weapon as with a UAV, is that it can significantly increase
it allows engagement of smaller, fast-moving, asymmetric threats, the helicopter crew’s situational awareness.
which cannot be engaged with current generation missiles due Combining the strengths of manned and
to their high mobility and small thermal and radar signatures. The unmanned platforms, MUMT has the potential
LMM Martlet will also allow AW159 operators to engage air targets to play a transformative role by increasing the
such as UAVs and other maritime helicopters. situational awareness, tempo, lethality, sur-
vivability and combat mass of aviation forces,
Manned-Unmanned Teaming significantly reducing crew workload allowing
In September 2020, Leonardo undertook Manned-Unmanned pilots to focus on the mission at hand. “The suc-

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