New trainer addresses manned-unmanned training needs

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama – Army helicopter pilots will soon be able to train virtually anywhere, at any time, thanks to a new training device demonstrated last week at UAH.

Team members with the AH-64D Apache Longbow Block III program gave a demonstration Thursday of the Apache Block III National Airspace trainer (AB3NAT). Designed to act as a “surrogate trainer” for manned to unmanned teaming, or MUM-T in Army parlance, the new trainer will be able to receive full motion video from an unmanned aircraft system, or UAS.

That may not sound like much, but it answers a critical training need faced by Army aviation. Federal Aviation Administration rules bar UAS from flying over nearly all of the U.S. Block III officials say the piloted AB3NAT solves that problem while providing realism needed to make training useful to pilots.

Increasingly important in helicopter training, MUM-T provides the ability for manned platforms such as Apache and Kiowa to receive Full Motion Video from Unmanned Aircraft systems.

The AB3NAT will allow the crew of an Apache, or other Army helicopter, to receive and process real-time video imaging surveillance from a UAS operating in theater, such as in Afghanistan. It also allows control of other systems such as payloads and cameras.

It also provides options to the helicopter crew such as handing off control to another air or ground-based crew. For example, it would allow the crew to control the UAS payload cameras.

The AB3NAT will allow both individual and collective training, or the option or conducting manned and unmanned training. The Army needs the option of collective training when multiple assets are not organic to one unit.

Sue O’Brien, a UAH engineering professor who heads the UAH AB3NAT team, says the goal is to reach full Level 4 Interoperability, the control by an Apache crew of the UAS flight path and weapons systems.

“We can help them get a feel for an actual UAS experience, how to control an unmanned aircraft,” O’Brien said. “It’s a situation where the pilot takes full control of the UAS.”

The Apache Block III upgrade project office conducted a Limited User Test in 2008, required to approve an initial low rate production schedule for the Block III. Lt. Col. Dan Bailey, Apache III Product Manager, recalled that the lack of collective training prior to the test and evaluation was a factor in some of the shortcomings uncovered.

“We saw a few training problems, and the AB3NAT is intended to bridge the training gap,” he said. “It will be available to the unit to do as much collective training as they want,” noting that with the AB3NAT units can conduct MUM-T training with no airspace restrictions.

The Apache Block III Product Office said the AB3NAT is crucial part of preparation for the AB3 Initial Operational Test & Evaluation (IOT&E), set for March-April 2012 at the National Training Center (NTC) in Fort Irwin, Calif.

Program officials at the demonstration recognized the major contribution provided by UAH, as well as the non-profit Momentum Foundation, a Tullahoma-based private group that provides research services for aviation.

O’Brien said the trainer is ready to be deployed, and initial units will be made available to helicopter units as soon as the end of February.

Capt. Jeff Belcourt of the Apache Block III Product Office said the unit could be configured in a variety of ways, and could be tailored for use by the many nations expected to buy the Apache Block III for their own forces. “Our goal is to make it an exportable package,” he said.

O’Brien said there are plans to exhibit and demonstrate the trainer at this year’s Army Aviation Association of America conference to be held in Nashville the first week of April.

The Apache Product Office provided most of the funding for the trainer development, she said.

“We want to thank Gen. Crosby for their funding and their confidence in us,” O’Brien said.