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communicated with other manned
platforms from European forces
to interoperate. The project, which
has a planned demonstration
phase this year, envisages mixed-
fleet operations in the military and
civil domain through high levels of
interoperability, increased auton- while providing valuable data to the
omy and improved human machine
interfaces.
Leonardo’s Big Plans
Leonardo Helicopters is among
the industry consortium members
from four EU nations involved in
the MUSHER project; its AWHero
is one of the platforms involved,
potentially teamed with an AW189
helicopter. Thales, Indra, and
three companies from Belgium
- Moeyersons, Royal Military
Academy and Space Applications
Services – are part of the team.
“There are several key benefits
to Crewed Uncrewed Teaming
(CUC-T),” says Roberto Pretolani,
Marketing Manager for Rotary
Uncrewed Aerial System (RUAS)
at Leonardo Helicopters. “While
improving overall mission effec-
tiveness, deploying uncrewed
and crewed platforms together
also reduces the risk to aircrew in
high-threat scenarios by improving
their situational awareness and it
allows pilots to remain at the centre
ASIAN DEFENCE TECHNOLOGY
of the mission without increasing
their workload. CUC-T also extends
operational range because the
uncrewed system can operate with
high persistency beyond the horizon
of helicopters’ embarked payloads
pilots of the crewed aircraft.”
The MUM-T concept is a
key element of Leonardo’s
“BeTomorrow2030” Strategic
Plan. In September 2020, the
Italian conglomerate successfully
demonstrated integrated capabil-
ities between a manned aircraft
and a drone during trials between
a Leonardo AW159 Wildcat heli-
copter and a semi-autonomous
UAV from Callen-Lenz Associates.
Leonardo’s MUM-T solution allowed
the Wildcat crew to control both the
flight path and payload of the UAV
using a task-based Human Machine
Interface (HMI). The demonstration,
which was part of the British Army’s
MUMT themed Army Warfighting
Experiment (AWE) 19, was planned
and executed by Dstl.
Boeing Gets Busy
A big part of Boeing’s MUM-T
experiments involves the Apache
AH-64E but are not limited to it.
In July 2021, the Navy’s MQ-25
Stingray unmanned aerial refueler
aircraft without the need for an air
vehicle operator on the ground. The
demonstration occurred in a virtual
environment with the MQ-25 com-
municating with the E-2D Advanced
Hawkeye airborne command and
control aircraft and the F/A-18
Super Hornet. Northrop Grumman’s
E-2D simulator worked along-
side Boeing’s F/A-18 and MQ-25
simulations.
In July 2022, Boeing and the US
Navy announced that they had
completed a series of successful
MUM-T flight tests in which a Block
III F/A-18 Super Hornet demon-
strated command and control of
three unmanned aerial vehicles
(UAVs). In Two months later, the
company demonstrated open
autonomy architecture for MUM-T
with the MQ-25. The demonstration
included Northrop Grumman’s E-2D
Advanced Hawkeye command and
control aircraft, the P-8A Poseidon
maritime patrol and reconnaissance
aircraft, and the F/A-18 Block III
Super Hornet fighter jet. The three
naval aircraft tasked four virtual
MQ-25s to conduct intelligence,
surveillance and reconnaissance
missions.
The Boeing MQ-28 Ghost Bat, a
stealth, multirole UAV developed
by Boeing Australia for the Royal
Australian Air Force (RAAF), is built
for MUM-T missions. Designed as
a force multiplier aircraft capable
of flying alongside manned aircraft
for support and performing autono-
mous missions independently using
artificial intelligence, the first proto-
type was rolled out in May 2020 and
completed its first flight in February
2021. The RAAF has so far ordered
ten MQ-28As. In May this year, Air
Marshal Robert Chipman, the chief
of the Royal Australian Air Force,
said that Australia would begin test-
ing the Ghost Bat in 2025. The UAV
“will demonstrate the potential
of crewed and uncrewed teaming
to improve the survivability and
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