Rotorcraft manufacturer controls UAS from H135 cockpit for Spanish navy.
Airbus Helicopters is advancing its work to integrate operations with uncrewed aerial systems (UAS), with the company having recently taken part in a tactical trial with the Spanish navy.
Conducted in Rota earlier this month, the activity involved one of the service’s new Airbus Helicopters H135s, along with single Airbus Flexrotor and Alpha Unmanned Systems A900 air vehicles operating from the offshore patrol vessel Rayo.
While simulating a “high-speed boat chase”, the UAS were tasked to track the target, “and transmitted live footage to both the helicopter and the ship”.
Management of the drones was overseen by a pilot on the H135 using a tablet featuring Airbus Helicopters’ HTeaming system, while data was also integrated into the surface vessel’s tactical and combat management systems.
The successful trial validated the system’s ability to “establish a multi-domain operational link”, the rotorcraft manufacturer says. “This capability allows the ship to access critical information from areas far beyond its own sensor range,” it adds.
“Airbus Helicopters is committed to exploring new frontiers in crewed-uncrewed teaming that brings real added value to customers,” says Fernando Lombo, managing director of Airbus Helicopters in Spain.
Airbus Helicopters says it will “build on this success by exploring drone swarm technology and further enhancing the integration between air and sea assets”.
Meanwhile, the company performed a demonstration of its crewed/uncrewed teaming capabilities during the Airbus Defence Summit in Manching, Germany on 20 May.
During a simulated hostage rescue scenario, an Airbus Helicopters’ Aliaca vertical take-off and landing UAS conducted surveillance in support of an extraction performed by personnel aboard two H145 rotorcraft.
The company also showcased its MindShare artificial intelligence system during a separate demonstration involving two air vehicles autonomously locating a simulated surface-to-air missile launcher.
While it declines to say how many air vehicles could be operated simultaneously using the MindShare technology, the airframer indicates that “the system in principle is very unlimited”, while describing it as “one brain distributed across several drones”.
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