U.S. Army to Demonstrate Full Manned-Unmanned Operations Next Year

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The U.S. Army is planning to test a combined operation of manned and Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), as part of the demonstration of advanced capabilities enabled with current and future systems and technologies.

The demonstration called ‘Manned Unmanned Systems Integration Concept’ (MUSIC) will take place at Dugway Proving Ground, Utah, in September 2011. MUSIC will demonstrate the interoperability between manned and unmanned systems, including ‘level-4’ UAS interoperability enabling air crews of AH-64D Apache Block III Attack helicopters to control, and monitor the video captured by the EO payloads of RQ-7 Shadow UAS.

During the exercise, the MQ-1C ‘Gray Eagle’, MQ-5B ‘Hunter’, RQ-7 ‘Shadow’, RQ-11B ‘Raven’ and the AH-64D ‘Apache’ Block III will all be exchanging information and exchanging command and control while in flight. The images will also be transferred over One Station Rover Video Terminal (OSRVT) video datalink to other participants, including OH-58D Kiowa warrior and ground control stations.