Birds of a feather: Drone and jet successfully paired together in landmark test
The first successful pairing of an aircraft and an autonomous drone has taken place at a military base in Salisbury.
Supported by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), the Royal Navy and the Air and Space Warfare Centre (ASWC), the test saw a QinetiQ jet aircraft and a modified Banshee Jet 80 drone fly together.
"The ability to team crewed and uncrewed systems is an important step forward in our ability to seize the opportunities inherent across drones," said Minister for Defence Procurement James Cartlidge
"Our Armed Forces strive to be at the cutting edge of technology.
"Using British engineering expertise, this successful trial is another excellent example of what happens when the MOD and industry experiment and test hand-in-hand – a core approach in our UK Defence Drone Strategy and Integrated Procurement Model."
Flying from the MOD site at Boscombe to the Hebrides, the aircraft soon gained control of the Banshee, with the drone receiving its orders from the aircraft before automatically conducting the mission assignment, flying at 350 knots.
This is a milestone in terms of drone technology and air power, which could one day be applied to the Armed Forces.
The mission was completed by the live Banshee, and there were also several digital Banshees within a live virtual swarm which successfully acted in a coordinated manner.
This important trial has successfully demonstrated that the combination of crewed and uncrewed teaming between current combat aircraft and next-generation drones can potentially be achieved successfully with the existing air fleet.
Alan Hart, the managing director of science and technology at QinetiQ, said: "This transformative trial is a great example of collaboration and technology leadership in aviation defence capability, as we seek to meet the ever-changing requirements of those on the frontline.
"It represents a significant advance in developing technologies that will allow uncrewed systems to operate seamlessly with current aircraft, providing the basis for air operations for the next 20 years."
Peter Stockel, Dstl's chief for robotic and autonomous systems, said: "This UK first paves the way in de-risking the barriers to adopt autonomous systems through advancing autonomy capabilities that are easier to integrate and also address regulatory requirements.
"The project has been about ‘teaming’ throughout, not only for the crewed-uncrewed technologies and their integration, but also as an exemplar of MOD, Dstl, QinetiQ and other industry partners working collaboratively to accelerate advanced autonomy research and development for operational advantage at pace through more open and agile approaches and real-world experimentation."
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