Mesa robot used in tandem with unmanned helicopter.
Huntsville Times
Air robot use grows, and so does local role
Sunday, December 10, 2006
By SHELBY G. SPIRES
Times Aerospace Writer shelby.spires@htimes.com
Before the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, whenever the Army needed to fly or tread into dangerous territory, the lives of helicopter pilots or combat soldiers had to be risked.
Today, the Army is just as likely to send a robot or flying drone to do the job, and engineers in Huntsville - on Redstone Arsenal, in Cummings Research Park and at local universities - are largely responsible for developing the life-saving technology.
Controlled by a person on the ground, the unmanned air and ground robots being tested at Redstone Arsenal can drop supplies, shoot missiles, sniff out bombs and find people in buildings. By 2010, Army managers here hope that there will be as many unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, in service in Afghanistan and Iraq as there are Army helicopters, which currently number about 4,000.
The 'future' really isn't the future anymore with UAVs," said Army Maj. Gen. Jim Pillsbury, head of the Army Aviation and Missile Command on Redstone. "It's today."
At the Redstone-based Unmanned Aircraft Systems office, the Army now manages five types of UAVs, from the small hand-held Raven to the large Warrior aircraft now under advanced development. Also, a helicopter UAV variant, the Fire Scout, is being studied for future use.
The Army increasingly has been relying on the unmanned aircraft during combat. Of the more than 1.2 million flight hours the Army has racked up in Afghanistan and Iraq since February 2003, more than 146,000 hours have been flown by UAVs. Army managers say that number could grow to almost half of all Army flight hours over the next two or three years.
"Our goal is to put a machine out there before a person risks their life, and I believe in that," Pillsbury said. "Mainly, because I've been to too many memorial services."
Expanding mission
For Redstone's Unmanned Aircraft Systems office, work on today's UAVs translates to about $1.5 billion a year with almost 250 people involved in the program.
In 2006, there are about 1,870 Army UAVs, and that number is expected to grow to around 4,200 by late 2008.
Today, Army UAVs also work areas from low to high altitudes and a variety of missions. That makes us unique certainly in the American military, and probably in the world," said Army Col. Don Hazelwood, Unmanned Aircraft Systems chief.
"Our first priority is our people. When a UAV goes down it's the loss of a machine, not a person," Hazelwood said. "Nobody gets a visit saying somebody isn't coming home," Hazelwood said.
Hazelwood said the UAV could stay out longer, around nine hours in some cases versus about three for piloted aircraft "and you never send just one aircraft on a mission. You always send at least two," he said. "We only have to send one UAV ... it has no need for a buddy, or back-up, aircraft."
Army managers estimate that a helicopter can cost anywhere from around $900 to $3,000 per flight hour depending on the aircraft. A UAV ranges from $100 to $300.
The UAV mission is slated to expand from reconnaissance into attack capability. At present, UAVs use complex sensors to search forward areas for enemy troops and detect where roadside bombs have been planted.
"Now, we are working through our latest platform, the Warrior, to place weapons underneath it," said Tim Owings, deputy Unmanned Aircraft Systems manager. "That will give an Army UAV not only the ability to find (enemies) but also the capability to attack a wide range of targets."
Universities involved
Work in Madison County on unmanned vehicles isn't limited to Redstone. A University of Alabama in Huntsville group has teamed with local defense contractors on a project to further develop unmanned systems.
Called the "Flying Bassett" program, UAH is improving computer hardware, software and radio controls for unmanned air and ground vehicles.
"It's sort of like missiles or rockets have been in the past," said Dr. Gary Maddux, who oversees UAH's unmanned systems efforts. "The Army has a need. Academia and business fill that need. Unmanned vehicle work has popped up more and more around North Alabama over the past four or five years."
Maddux has about 60 students from across North Alabama, including Alabama A&M and Athens State along with UAH, who are working on combining several unmanned systems for use as one.
"We see that there is a need, not only in the military, but with public safety and homeland security for this," Maddux said.
Last week, on a UAH soccer practice field, university students, engineers and defense contractors came together to test the marriage of air and ground vehicles.
A small unmanned helicopter made by Huntsville-based Neural Robotics Inc. was placed on top of a large, tractor-like Mesa Robotics Inc. unmanned ground vehicle. The team put the ground vehicle and helicopter through its paces including speedy ground robot starts and stops and takeoffs and landings for the helicopter.
Homeland security
Army engineers want the same setup some day as part of a "Future Combat System" which will rely heavily on unmanned air and ground vehicles. That program is at least a decade off with about $15 billion in Pentagon spending needed.
The UAH team's combination runs around $500,000, and some think it can be put in the field quicker than the Army version, at least for police and firefighters.
Don Jones, vice president of Madison-based Mesa Robotics, said the UAH and Mesa combo of air and ground vehicles could be used soon for police, fire and homeland security agencies.
"This is sort of the 'poor man's' future combat system, I guess," Jones said. "Except we hope to get into use a lot sooner than the Army's version. This isn't geared for the exact same mission as the Army's either."
The goal is similar to the Army's: Keep people safe.
"Say there was a large chlorine spill or some other hazardous material," Maddux explains. "You don't want to send in (police and fire units) without knowing where the nasty stuff is.
"With a UAV or a ground robot you can go in and quickly assess where the spill is with sensors and that can keep those guys safe and much better informed."
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