Farnborough, UK – A  BAE Systems team that includes Cranfield Aerospace and the National Flight Laboratory Centre at Cranfield University have achieved a major breakthrough in unmanned air systems technology, flying a series of missions totalling 800 miles in a specially modified Jetstream passenger plane without any human intervention – the first time such an undertaking has been achieved.   

Nick Colosimo, the manager of the programme at BAE Systems explained: “In order to comply with current aviation regulations, the Jetstream we use in our autonomous testing is a ‘surrogate’ unmanned air vehicle, or UAV, meaning it always has an aircrew on board, and up to now they’ve guided the aircraft through a display in the cockpit that’s acted as a pseudo-flight director.

“Now, we’ve got a way of taking them out of the picture and providing a purer UAV environment by controlling the plane through the mission system and autopilot.”

The development has many benefits. It means a demand from the mission system can be carried out immediately, eliminating the time lag that an aircrew brings. Similarly, it is now possible to fly routes with a greater level of repeatability.

Nick said: “removing the human element from Surrogate UAV flight helps to eliminate the uncertainty associated with human actions. This allows the Surrogate UAV to do exactly what it is told, when it is told.

“Looking wider, we’ve got the chance to make greater use of the Jetstream by using it to help test UAV technologies that support Unmanned Autonomous Systems in their UK airspace integration”.

There have been several follow-up flights since the first Jetstream mission with human-free input in May, and more are scheduled as part of BAE Systems’ continually developing unmanned air systems programme

Source: BAE