Since our group is growing with many subject-matter-experts, it would be fun to do an informal group eval of new technology trends (plus, it’s part of our 2019 Focus Areas, “New Equipment & Systems - Trends). So, the first one for 2019…is NG Firebird a Game Changer?
ASOG Desk Editor
Comments
Tim, very good points. Here’s another point, what is the demand for an OPV capability? I remember seeing many (OK, I think made a few) PPTs highlighting the benefits of operating a straight manned system or unmanned system. The benefit was flying the OPV via man to/from the deployment area because of airspace approval hurdles than convert the OPV to unmanned at or near the collection area. However, as UTM develops, will you need this option/capability in the future? This will also help with the planning question of…where do you store the Bananas?
Hi Tim. Pleased to meet you. You make a lot of good points now that I think of it. I was looking at it strictly from my experiential perspective of being in the military. We deployed with the people we needed and didnt think about the bill required to pay those people. I can see how a private contractor would have to take into account the manning bill along with the infrastructure bill of both forward opeartaing and main operating bases, along with things like satelite time if the were doing remote split operation. When we were in Afghanistan we had the people we needed to do the job and they worked 12 hour staggered shifts so that we had three crews available each 24 hour period. They would then spell each other off in the GCS as required to keep persistent ops going.
I can see where that would be very expensive for a private company, unless thats what was written in the contract.
Thanks for your input.
Gary, that reminds me of the approach of "Sensor to Analyst" and Sensor to Shooter"...80% assessing the field and 20% tactical support.
I would consider a "system" of Unmanned and manned to work is conjunction with each other. The broad recce job would be to send out the unmanned version to do the wide area search and if there was anything of interest you could follow that up with a manned asset in order to focus on the macro level stuff.
My last point made me think. If you were a decision-maker who wanted to purchase a new Aerial Platform/System to meet your current and near-future collection requirements, what system would you purchase:
a. Manned Platform/System
b. Optional Pilot Vehicle
c. Unmanned Platform/System
And why?
I’ve been tracking the OPV concept for the last decade, plus consulted on one project. However, the concept seems to still be in the R&D hanger and not in full production/operations around the world. The question is, why has the OPV concept not taken-off? From an operational perspective, the concept looks good. However, what are the variables that keep organizations, companies and agencies from using this capability? So, my two cents, the Firebird and the OPV concept is a trend but not on the fast-track.
The weak link in a manned platform continues to be the crew endurance.....Its great to have a plane that can fly for 24 hours in a row, but the crew needs to have a certain amount of comforts (feeding, ablution, sleeping) in order to keep up with the capabilites of the aircraft. At leat with Remotely piloted version you can swap out crews as required.