MQ-20 Avenger - USN

[GunnyGene]

Never heard of this? Well here it is, I say here it is.

MQ-20 Avenger First Drone Flown Using Navy's Carrier-Based Control System

The MQ-20 stood in as a surrogate for the Navy's future MQ-25 Stingray and other drones that will operate from its carriers' decks.

www.twz.com

The U.S. Navy recently used a drone control system now being installed on all its supercarriers to operate an actual uncrewed aircraft for the first time. The uncrewed platform in question was a stealthy General Atomics Avenger, which that company has been using as a technology testbed to support its work on autonomy and Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) type drones. This underscores the Navy's plans to use the Unmanned Carrier Aviation Mission Control System (UMCS) to support more than just the MQ-25 Stingray tanker drone, which is still set to be the service's first operational advanced uncrewed carrier-based aircraft.

Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) announced the successful completion of the test, which took place on November 5, in a press release earlier today. Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works advanced projects division, which has long been involved in the development of the UMCS, participated in the event along with General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI).

Watch the video:

 

[Fox Mike]

They have been working on this since the early 2000's and finally have proven it will work. .

 

[blume357]

Probably what's been cruising over our military bases....

 

[contender]

Gee,, putting more pilots out of work!

Seriously, I see good & bad in this technology.
Good in that it reduces the potential loss of life of our military people. And hopefully it can be done at a lower expense to operate & use than current systems.

But what happens when a carrier is attacked & the control systems are damaged? What if the carrier based technicians are among the casualties from a carrier attack?
How does a drone fend off an attack in an air to air confrontation with the enemy?

I'm sure much of this is being studied & planned for. But it's just questions I have.

 

[GunnyGene]

Gee,, putting more pilots out of work!

Seriously, I see good & bad in this technology.
Good in that it reduces the potential loss of life of our military people. And hopefully it can be done at a lower expense to operate & use than current systems.

But what happens when a carrier is attacked & the control systems are damaged? What if the carrier based technicians are among the casualties from a carrier attack?
How does a drone fend off an attack in an air to air confrontation with the enemy?

I'm sure much of this is being studied & planned for. But it's just questions I have.

Modern war fighting is all about networking and integrated systems from the soldier on the ground to orbiting platforms in space. Drones (of any description) are just one piece of it. Everything communicates with everything else to identify, target, and efficiently eliminate threats, using the best available, most effective, and appropriate weapons, whether its a sniper in a hide with a .50 Barrett, a nuclear strike, a 500kw laser from orbit, or anything in between.

And it is all evolving at the speed of light.

Click thru the links here to get overwhelmed by it all. And this is just what's publicly available.

News & Features

See the latest News & Features stories from The War Zone. See news, trends, tips, reviews and more at The War Zone.

www.twz.com

 

[contender]

I do understand all that Gunny! But I also know that when the SHTF,, it's often left to a good old fashioned human to figure out things.
And yes,, stuff is evolving so fast,, it's scary!

 

[GunnyGene]

I do understand all that Gunny! But I also know that when the SHTF,, it's often left to a good old fashioned human to figure out things.
And yes,, stuff is evolving so fast,, it's scary!

This is where AI enters the picture:

Scenario:

Hotdog1 is flying an F-35 with control of 4 "Loyal Wingman" stealthy drones 100 miles in front of him. Each one armed with an assortment of weapons from air to air and air to ground, long range hypersonic missiles.

Suddenly his cockpit display tells him that multiple threats at varying ranges from 200 to 400 miles out from Hotdog1 have been id'd and locked on by his LW's who also received targeting info from a satellite and other sources (including electronic emissions from enemy) 1/10 of a second earlier.

The display requests permission to fire.

Hotdog1 pushes the fire button on his Ipad and the LW's launch the required weapons that never miss. 10 seconds later another set of targets are received. Rinse and repeat until rearm/refuel is necessary. While this is going on for Hotdog1 other LW groups are moving up and/or targeting other threats they have been tasked with.

It's all over in less than 20 minutes with no friendly casualties.

 

[JiminMaine]

This is where AI enters the picture:

Scenario:

Hotdog1 is flying an F-35 with control of 4 "Loyal Wingman" stealthy drones 100 miles in front of him. Each one armed with an assortment of weapons from air to air and air to ground, long range hypersonic missiles.

Suddenly his cockpit display tells him that multiple threats at varying ranges from 200 to 400 miles out from Hotdog1 have been id'd and locked on by his LW's who also received targeting info from a satellite and other sources (including electronic emissions from enemy) 1/10 of a second earlier.

The display requests permission to fire.

Hotdog1 pushes the fire button on his Ipad and the LW's launch the required weapons that never miss. 10 seconds later another set of targets are received. Rinse and repeat until rearm/refuel is necessary. While this is going on for Hotdog1 other LW groups are moving up and/or targeting other threats they have been tasked with.

It's all over in less than 20 minutes with no friendly casualties.

M concern would an adversary hacking into the control system and using these advanced weapons against us.

 

[GunnyGene]

M concern would an adversary hacking into the control system and using these advanced weapons against us.

Yep. That has happened a couple times in the past, but not recently that I know of. AI enabled Cyber/EW is a major concern for everyone. Just ask Israel/Iran/Ukraine/Russia/China.

The problem is: How do all the bits and pieces of your command and control networks (including GPS) communicate with each other without any detectable means of communication?