Crewed/uncrewed teaming made safer with defense aviation

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Video by Timothy Boulay, Brittany Dickerson, Corinne Milligan, Charles Regner

Crewed/uncrewed teaming made safer with defense aviation's new avoidance tech

Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division

Jan. 30, 2024 | 2:17

NAVAL AIR WARFARE CENTER AIRCRAFT DIVISION, Patuxent River, Md. -- Step inside the Marine Corps' MQ-9 Reaper's ground control station for a closer look at Guardian, defense aviation's new detect-and-avoid system making crewed/uncrewed teaming safer developed by engineers at the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD).

Guardian tracks manned and unmanned systems across an airspace within a 200 nautical mile radius. The system improves airspace safety using ground-based sensors to communicate with air vehicle operators in ground control stations to provide visual cues for navigation and traffic avoidance maneuvers like turn, ascend, or descend in instances where collisions are imminent–all on a computer screen, similar to GPS in a car.

Guardian earned Naval Air Systems Command certification in 2023 clearing the system to operate on defense ranges including NAWCAD's Naval Test Wing Atlantic, which operates four test squadrons developing every aircraft flown by the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, and at U.S. Army Redstone Test Center.

NAWCAD is working toward Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification so Guardian can operate across national airspace. Guardian is the only ground based detect and avoidance system developed to meet the FAA’s performance standards for unmanned systems.

Warfare center engineers are refining the system to make Guardian a part of shipboard operations supporting the MQ-25 Stingray, MQ-9 Reaper, and MQ-4 Triton for a safer air wing of the future.

The test team prototyped Guardian in response to mandates set by the FAA limiting unmanned systems from operating in airspaces alongside manned aircraft. The restrictions make flight operations increasingly difficult to schedule as unmanned aviation becomes a larger part the Navy’s portfolio. For example, only a single unmanned vehicle can operate over NAWCAD’s airspace, the Atlantic Test Ranges, at any given time making flight operations a challenge to manage across NAWCAD's test squadrons.

The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division is the Navy’s largest warfare center, employing more than 17,000 military, civilian and contract personnel. It operates test ranges, laboratories and aircraft in support of test, evaluation, research, development and sustainment of everything flown by the Navy and Marine Corps. Based in Patuxent River, Maryland, the command also has major sites in St. Inigoes, Maryland, Lakehurst, New Jersey, and Orlando, Florida.