Defence

Defence Science and Technology Organisation

Unmanned aerial system trial hailed a success

The Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) has successfully completed a Defence trial aimed at assessing the ability of unmanned aerial systems to perform maritime surveillance over Australia's vast North West Shelf, a major energy production area of vital strategic and economic benefit to the country. Darryl Johnston explains.

The UAV undertook a range of surveillance missions.
Photos by provided by DSTO

The trial was conducted in two phases. The first phase involved a General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) Mariner Demonstrator unmanned aerial system. The second phase was a modelling and simulation trial conducted in San Diego, California involving Northrop Grumman and its Cyber Warfare Integration Network (CWIN).

Phase one of the North West Shelf Trial was conducted during September with the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) working with the Armidale Class Patrol Boat HMAS Pirie, Coastwatch aircraft and assets from the Pilbara Regiment to conduct surveillance and response missions. Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Edinburgh was the primary mission control site while the aircraft was airborne.

The General Atomics UAV flew four missions over the North West Shelf, operating out of RAAF Learmonth, before returning to RAAF Edinburgh. Individual sorties varied between two to three hours and more than 20 hours. The UAV undertook a range of surveillance missions and collected data on vessels operating in or passing through Australia's north-west maritime approaches. It also exchanged information with HMAS Pirie. The boat was equipped to receive data directly from the UAV. Data collected by the UAV was transmitted to a ground station at RAAF Edinburgh in South Australia for analysis. The crew at RAAF Edinburgh coordinated the UAV operations with the patrol boat to assess how well the two could operate together to provide an effective maritime surveillance capability.

Trial Executive Authority and DSTO's Deputy Chief Defence Scientist, Dr Ian Sare, said the North West Shelf Trial was a cross-Defence effort led by DSTO which drew on its experience of the successful Global Hawk deployment in 2001.

"The trial also involved the Air Force, Navy, Army, Capability Development Executive, Intelligence and Security Group, Defence Materiel Organisation, Chief Information Officer Group, Defence Support Group and the Joint Offshore Protection Command," he added.

Dr Sare said the purpose of the North West Shelf Trial was to assess the maritime surveillance potential of UAVs to operate with Armidale Class Patrol Boats in providing an enhanced layer of security in Australia's northern approaches.

"It will also enable Defence to make a practical assessment of the utility of UAVs as one component of an integrated national surveillance network and assess the procedures and practices for sharing surveillance information among government agencies to develop a whole-of-Government response to Australia's national security needs," he said.

"It is expected to provide several benefits for the Government, including useful data to assist Defence in developing its requirements to acquire a long-endurance, multi-mission unmanned aerial system under Project AIR 7000 Phase 1.

"It will also assist the Border Protection Command, Immigration, Fisheries and Quarantine services to assess the value of using UAVs for civilian coastal surveillance and border protection."

The trial was an outstanding success, with all aims achieved.
Photos by provided by DSTO

Dr Sare said while extremely successful, this high profile and important trial was complex and challenging.

"The most significant challenge was getting the UAV with fully integrated maritime surveillance radar and in establishing the ground environment to run the trial," Dr Sare said.

"Defence's requirement was for a medium- or high-altitude, long endurance UAV with the same type of Elta maritime radar as used on the AP-3C maritime patrol aircraft.

"General Atomics had not previously integrated this particular radar on the UAV. General Atomics and Elta spent a great deal of effort to get a successful, workable system. Establishment of the ground environment required DSTO to work very closely with General Atomics, some industry players and other parts of Defence, to put together the system for controlling what the UAV would do during the trial sorties and for disseminating the information captured by the UAV's sensors," he said.

Trial Director, Group Captain Williams Spears, said the trial was an outstanding success, with all aims achieved.

"I was particularly impressed with how the whole team worked together to develop an excellent rapport and safety record based on sound aviation culture and professionalism. The experience gained will no doubt enhance both the acquisition and introduction into service processes," he said.

As part of the North West Shelf UAS Trial, Northrop Grumman conducted a virtual trial during October in its CWIN in San Diego, California. The company used a virtual Global Hawk to interact with other entities in the CWIN, which allowed different options to be tested.

Factors such as sensor configurations, geographic locations and flying conditions can easily be changed in a virtual environment. Working in the CWIN will enable Defence to consider how future systems might perform in the Australian environment. The results of the CWIN activity will complement the findings from the practical flight trials and contribute to the overall assessment of deploying UAVs for a maritime surveillance function.

Dr Sare said DSTO is preparing a report which will be presented to Government by the end of the year.

Darryl Johnston is Manager, Defence Science Communications (Canberra), DSTO.

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