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Apache attack helicopter with fixed-wing
UAS such as GA-ASI’s MQ-1C Gray Eagle and
Textron Systems’ RQ-7B Shadow. The service’s
first operational deployment of manned-un-
manned teams took place in 2015, when AH-64s
of the 101st Airborne Division were paired with
US Air Force MQ-1C UAVs. The same year, the
MQ-1C Gray Eagle and an AH-64 Apache were
used to demonstrate teaming between manned
and unmanned aircraft near Kunsan Air Base in
South Korea.

In October 2020, the MQ-1C Gray Eagle
Extended Range UAS teamed up with an without the need for an air vehicle operator on the ground. The
Apache AH-64E helicopter and a Shadow demonstration occurred in a virtual environment with the MQ-25
RQ-7BV2 Block III tactical unmanned aircraft communicating with the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye airborne com-
system to successfully execute a live missile mand and control aircraft and the F/A-18 Super Hornet. Northrop
fire. It was the first time that such a combined Grumman’s E-2D simulator worked alongside Boeing’s F/A-18 and
operation had been carried out with the three MQ-25 simulations.
aircraft. The service plans to make MUM-T an
integral element of its operations, including on In July 2022, Boeing and the US Navy announced that they had
its Future Attack/Reconnaissance Aircraft and completed a series of successful MUM-T flight tests in which a
Future Long Range Assault Aircraft. Block III F/A-18 Super Hornet demonstrated command and con-

PROMINENT PLAYERS trol of three unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). In September last
year, Boeing demonstrated open autonomy architecture for MUM-T
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. with the MQ-25. The demonstration included Northrop Grumman’s
(GA-ASI) has more than one aircraft involved in E-2D Advanced Hawkeye command and control aircraft, the P-8A
MUM-T exercises and is working with multiple Poseidon maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft, and the
militaries to further the concept. In August 2021, F/A-18 Block III Super Hornet fighter jet. The three naval aircraft
the company worked with the Royal Air Force tasked four virtual MQ-25s to conduct intelligence, surveillance and
(RAF) to successfully demonstrate MUM-T involv- reconnaissance missions.
ing its MQ-9B SeaGuardian and an RAF P-8.
During the exercise, the SeaGuardian compli- “Large swaths of ocean could be surveilled, identified and targeted
mented and supported Anti-Submarine Warfare when MQ-25 is teamed with carrier-based assets such as the E-2D
(ASW) tasking, including tracking, monitoring or the land-based P-8A patrol aircraft” says Don “BD” Gaddis,
and reporting of sonobuoys. The next month, MQ-25 Advanced Design at Boeing. “Through the demonstration,
the California-based company announced that our customers saw how this digital, open approach to MUM-T is key
it had successfully paired a company-owned to fielding critical warfighting capability at much lower cost and
MQ-20 Avenger with a modified King Air 200 as with greater speed and agility.”
a surrogate for 4th- and 5th-generation tactical
fighters. Kratos Unmanned Aerial Systems is currently working on an Off-
Board Sensing Station (OBSS) UAV programme after receiving a
In December 2022, GA-ASI used the MQ-20 US$49 million contract from the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL).
Avenger again to demonstrate the potential for OBSS, as envisaged by the USAF, will be a low-cost and modular
MUM-T in IR sensing, this time with a Sabreliner manned-unmanned teaming (MUM-T) platform.
business jet and two F-5 Advanced Tiger fighter
jets. While the Sabreliner operated by Lockheed EVOLVING TECHNOLOGIES
Martin acted as a surrogate fighter, the F-5s As data link systems evolve and drones become increasingly capable
were configured with internal Tactical Infrared with advancements in mission endurance and payload capabilities,
Search and Track (TacIRST) sensors to perform militaries are pushing MUM-T boundaries. In October 2021, L3Harris,
multi-platform IR sensing. The aircraft involved
in the exercise were equipped with TacIRST sen- the only company providing MUM-T Airborne Data Link Systems for
sors during the test to provide air-to-air moving the U.S. Army’s AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, announced that
target tracking. it had received a US$29.2 million contract for the Apache Manned/
Unmanned Teaming – Expanded Capabilities (MUMT-X) project. The
Boeing’s MUM-T experiments are not lim- MUMT-X avionics hardware enables the AH-64E crew to control the
ited to the Apache AH-64E. In July 2021, the sensors and flight path of the RQ-7 Shadow UAV and the MQ-1C
Navy’s MQ-25 Stingray unmanned aerial refu- Gray Eagle UAV over long distances. Previous systems gave the
eler communicated with other manned aircraft Apache crew only the ability to receive video and other data from
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