The U.S. Navy has conducted a flight test to demonstrate its Unmanned Carrier Aviation Mission Control Station’s ability to command different types of unmanned aircraft.
The Unmanned Carrier Aviation Program Office—a.k.a. PMA-268—conducted the exercise with Lockheed Martin in California to showcase connectivity between the control station, dubbed UMCS, and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems’ MQ-20 Avenger, the Naval Air Systems Command said Thursday.
During the Tuesday test flight, Navy air vehicle pilots at Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland controlled the MQ-20 through the UMCS, which enabled beyond-the-line-of-sight connection to unmanned aircraft using a low Earth orbit satellite constellation. The control station also relayed flight control commands and received mission systems data.
Lockheed’s Multi-Domain Combat System powered the UMCS during the demo, which Lt. Steven Wilster, an MQ-25 pilot, described as a significant advancement for unmanned naval aviation. “The team is paving the way for integrating critical unmanned capability across the joint force to combat the high-end threat our warfighters face today and in the future,” he explained.
The exercise is part of ongoing efforts by the Air Force, the Navy and the Marine Corps to develop and advance technologies for their envisioned collaborative combat aircraft platforms.
The flight test data will help PMA-268 to improve the program’s requirements and develop key command and control capabilities. More tests are lined up to demonstrate autonomy, mission systems, crewed-uncrewed teaming and advanced communications.