When we review the history of
unmanned aircraft systems one particular concept that has carried through the
age of time was the introduction of a “battlefield UAV.” The first one of its kind was the Gyrodyne
DASH. It was a dedicated design for the purpose and not a development of a
target system. Its task was to fly from US Navy frigates and to carry torpedoes
or nuclear depth charges to attack enemy submarines that were out of range of
the ship’s other weapons. In terms of control systems, it could be considered a
backward step since it carried no autopilot or sensors, being merely radio
controlled and, presumably radio or radar-tracked for positioning (Austin,
2010). It did, however, introduce a different role and for the first time the
use of a rotorcraft UAV. One could argue that the invention of this
“battlefield UAV” led to the introduction of other battlefield systems. The
unmanned aircraft with the most similarity is the Northrop Grumman Fire Scout.
The Fire Scout is a fully autonomous, four-blade, single-engine unmanned
helicopter. Fire Scout supports both maritime- and land-based missions, taking
off and landing on suitably equipped air-capable warships and at prepared and
unprepared landing zones. The MQ-8C has been designed to communicate easily
with shipboard controllers using the Navy’s Mission Control System ("MQ-8C
Fire Scout Unmanned Air System").
One of the
main problems with the DASH was the lack of a "feed-back-loop" from
the drone to the controller which prevented the operating drone controller from
knowing the drone's orientation. This was exacerbated by the low radar profile
of the QH-50 (DASH) to the ships tracking radar and the lack of transponders
resulted in the loss of many drones due to not knowing WHERE the drones were in
relation to the ship ("DASH History"). Because this system was
Non-Redundant, once communication was lost with the UAV, the system itself was
lost. Because of this lack of redundancy there needed to be a design that
incorporated various levels of redundancy in addition to this, a better onboard
communication system between the UAV and the ship’s communication. This new
system is what we see on many of today’s naval vessels which is called the
Mission Control System. This new system created a system oriented architecture
for use on ships, which eventually led to the invention of the Broad Area Maritime
Surveillance system or BAMS. This BAMS is utilized by the Triton Unmanned
aircraft and has been an extremely valuable asset.
These two
systems are similar not only in the fact that they are both rotorcraft, but
their missions are eerily the same, they both utilize a COTS approach, and both
use a form of radio communication. Where they differ is technology, redundancy,
and autonomous capability. The Fire
Scout comes equipped with a TCDL (tactical common data link), a UCARS (UAV
Common Automated Recovery System), modular payloads, and a more sophisticated
mission control system ("MQ-8B Fire Scout Brochure"). Without the
early failures of the DASH program, it would be hard to say if this system
would be in use. The initial concept of using a VSTOL “battlefield UAV” was a
great idea, but the lack of a sophisticated control station in conjunction with
poor radio communication, and lack of redundancies, the DASH program was
retired, which ultimately led to the need for a more sophisticated system that
could do the same mission of DASH, but do it better with less loss of
aircraft. These failures led to a need
for a redundant system and eventually the creation of a VTUAV (vertical
Takeoff/landing tactical unmanned aerial vehicle).
FIRE SCOUT
Gyrodyne DASH
References
Austin, R. (2010).
UAV Systems Continuing Evolution. In Unmanned air vehicles UAV design, development,
and deployment (Kindle ed., pp. Location 8656-9018). Chichester, West
Sussex: Wiley.
DASH History.
(2013). Retrieved August 16, 2015, from
http://www.gyrodynehelicopters.com/dash_history.htm
MQ-8B Fire Scout
Brochure. (2010, February 8). Retrieved August 16, 2015, from
http://www.northropgrumman.com/Capabilities/FireScout/Documents/pageDocuments/MQ-8B_Fire_Scout_Brochure.pdf
MQ-8C Fire Scout
Unmanned Air System. (2015, April 1). Retrieved August 16, 2015, from
http://www.northropgrumman.com/Capabilities/FireScout/Documents/pageDocuments/MQ-8C_Fire_Scout_Data_Sheet.pdf
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