Enemy suicide drones, spy drones, and drones that deliver death and destruction increasingly complicate the modern battlefield. The advent of unmanned aircraft system (UAS) technology has enabled non-state actors to harness airpower in a way previously reserved for the large military forces of nation-states. For as little as $650 for an off-the-shelf UAS, an enemy can eviscerate a parked F-22 worth $344 million. This low-cost/high-impact threat vector fundamentally alters force protection and installation defense requirements for the U.S. and its allies.

As the threat of weaponized drone swarms continues to escalate for U.S. forces, defense planners are considering high-energy laser and high-power microwave countermeasures to combat the threat of these groups of unmanned aerial systems (UASs).

The advent of unmanned systems reflects a huge aspect of warfare – that of protecting the warfighter – through the development of platforms that can be operated by humans from a distance, keeping them out of harm’s way. Some of these platforms are actually on the way to becoming fully autonomous. Hurdles in the way of both manufacturers and end users include interoperability and cost-efficiency. Although these hurdles are challenging, organizations including The Open Group and corresponding consortia have made noticeable strides to standardize in an effort to universalize otherwise complex unmanned systems.

In this podcast, Tim Keller, Chief Operations Officer at Great River Technology discusses defines what ARINC 818 is, discusses common misconceptions about the standard, and describes its growing use in sensor applications and in training and simulation applications. Keller also details new ARINC 818 training for engineers and explores how the standard could potentially work within the Sensor Open Systems Architecture Technical Standard.

An often-heard comment in the defense community is that it’s getting harder to attract and retain talent for industry and research roles.

It’s unmanned systems issue time again: That means it’s time for the annual xPonential event, which is being held virtually May 4 -6 this year due to the ongoing pandemic. This issue will appear virtually there as well; AUVSI has also announced that the event will be held in person in Atlanta August 16-19. That’s good news. Even more positive news: The continued growth of the unmanned systems market plus renewed commitment from U.S military leadership to leverage autonomous systems.

The Department of the Navy (DoN) plans to make some waves in the battle for limited resources. In over a thousand multiservice entries spanning all unmanned systems domains across the Department of Defense (DoD) in the 2021 Consolidated Appropriations Act, Congress primarily funded the air domain. The DoN response to the maritime hit: a rallying cry to roll the entire air, sea, ground, and manned/unmanned enterprise together to create an affordable, integrated, lethal, scalable, survivable and connected force. It’s called the Unmanned Campaign Framework.