UNMANNED SYSTEMS DEFENSE PHASE II: AIR
July 28, 2021 | AUVSI Advocacy
AUVSI today hosted Phase II of Unmanned Systems Defense, the association’s signature event connecting industry leaders with U.S. defense officials to advance the front line of innovation. Throughout the day’s progamming that focused on the air domain, experts highlighted the role of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) in joint defense operations, shared updates about the U.S. Air Force’s Agility Prime program, and discussed regulatory approaches to unmanned traffic management (UTM).
The role of UAS in Multi-Domain Operations
Michael Pappas, Director, Operations & Integration, G-2 U.S. Army, shared three primary concerns the Army considers when evaluating the role of UAS in multi-domain operations: networking, SWaP (size, weight, and power), and policy:
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Robust networking, which refers to the ability to integrate manned and unmanned systems, will be paramount to future success. In the last two decades, the Department of Defense has made great strides in developing a system-to-system approach to managing multiple UAS. The Army plans to continue development of multi-domain links, and will work to ensure their security going forward.
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DoD anticipates an explosion of demand for unmanned systems as computer processing improvements combine with high-fidelity sensing capabilities to make low-SWaP systems attainable.
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As the safety and effectiveness of unmanned systems are repeatedly demonstrated to civilian oversight policymakers, they will gain trust in these systems and increasingly support policies that foster their advancement.
Pappas stated that Department of Defense officials, especially Army leaders, are enthusiastic about the future capabilities unmanned systems can unlock when these three concepts are integrated, adding that, “There is indeed a bright and potentially endless future for UAS capabilities and capacities.”
A Collaborative Approach to UTM
Regulators and private sector experts discussed recent advancements to support the development of an Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management (UTM), an ecosystem for uncontrolled operations separate from FAA’s existing Air Traffic Management (ATM) system. FAA, NASA, and the U.S. Air Force are all actively developing technologies to support advanced UAS operations, collecting data on operations, and advancing an IoT-enabled future:
- NASA recently announced that the agency signed agreements with 13 companies and one university – with AUVSI members among those selected – to join NASA’s Advanced Air Mobility Project’s National Campaign. By fostering public-private partnerships, this project will enhance ecosystems that will facilitate the integration of advanced air mobility into the national airspace, including UTM.
- FAA is also working to support regulations that will enable complex operations to succeed, including through the agency’s recent launch of an Advisory and Rulemaking Committee (ARC) for beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations. AUVSI’s President and CEO, Brian Wynne, represents the industry and organization members on the ARC, where he supports performance-based regulations that are developed through collaboration with industry stakeholders.
- The Air Force’s Agility Prime program enables the commercial industry and defense sectors to collaborate together to identify and solve existing problems in scalability, precision, and system approaches.
AUVSI’s Air Advocacy Committee Supports These Objectives
As the world’s largest organization dedicated to unmanned systems, AUVSI engages in advocacy efforts to foster relationships with regulators and policymakers to educate them about the benefits and safety of unmanned systems in both commercial and defense sectors – to support our broader mission of a future where unmanned systems better serve our society. AUVSI’s Air Advocacy Committee approach the policy issues discussed today, and other issues impacting the air domain, through the lens of three key principles: safety, government-industry collaboration, and performance-based regulations. To learn more about getting involved with these initiatives, contact Michael Robbins at mrobbins@auvsi.org.
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