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2020-03-01

Leonardo’s Unmanned Solutions Steal the Limelight

At the recently concluded UMEX 2020 and SimTEX2020, Leonardo showcased its range of unmanned solutions for civil and military customers. Its portfolio of skills and technologies included fixed-wing and rotary-wing platforms, sensors, mission and ground control systems, drone navigation and traffic management, training services and Counter-Unmanned Aerial Systems (C-UAS). In fact, the Italian, UK and U.S. Armed Forces have recently deployed C-UAS to protect airports and military operations from drone threats.

The company has significant operational experience in the field of unmanned systems. For instance, Leonardo’s Falco and Falco EVO have been selected by customers in the Middle East and elsewhere and are operationally proven. Two examples include the United Nation’s MONUSCO humanitarian mission, which is helping stabilise the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the European Union FRONTEX agency’s surveillance and rescue missions over the Mediterranean Sea.

Leonardo’s Falco family was recently bolstered by the addition of the readily exportable Falco Xplorer, the company’s largest ever unmanned platform, which can provide persistent, multi-sensor strategic surveillance to military and civil customers and relay information in real time via secure satellite connection to C4I centres, with over 24 hours’ endurance. The Falco Xplorer’s maiden flight took place in January with the support of Italian Air Force personnel. The flight campaign will assess the aircraft’s full range of capabilities and certify the system against NATO’s airworthiness standard STANAG 4671.

Spotlight on Rotary Unmanned Air System

At UMEX, Leonardo exhibited its Rotary Unmanned Air System (R-UAS) AWHERO, a dual-use platform, which can perform civil and military missions day and night, over land and sea. The company’s 200 kg class R-UAS was included in the suite of technologies that the company displayed during the first sea demonstration of OCEAN2020, the first project financed by the European Union and managed by the European Defence Agency (EDA) in the framework of PADR (Preparatory Action on Defence Research).

Leonardo heads a team of 42 partners coming from 15 European countries, including industries, research institutes and the Defence Ministry of Greece, Spain, Portugal and Lithuania. The project includes two naval demonstrations: the first one took place in the Gulf of Taranto on the 20 and 21 of November 2019 and the second will take place in 2020 in the Baltic Sea.

The AWHERO and Leonardo’s optionally-piloted SW4-Solo helicopter were both involved in the first OCEAN 2020 maritime security military research project demonstration, which also included six naval units, seven other remotely-piloted systems, five satellites, two ground communications networks and four national coordination centres.

The AWHERO accomplished all its four planned missions on board the Italian Navy’s FREMM Virginio Fasan, including automatic take-off and landing procedures from the vessels’ bridge. AWHERO, equipped with EO/IR and AIS 10’’ sensors, successfully detected, identified and tracked the intruder vessel. Footage and real time data were sent from the vessel, thanks to the integration with the naval Combat Management System.

During the demo, AWHERO teamed-up with other unmanned assets (among which was the Leonardo SW-4 Solo OPV) with multi-source data integration. Moreover, in the second scenario, manned/unmanned team activities were involved to deliver real time data to a NH90 helicopter and to a small vessel during the attack to a hostile vessel.

During operations, the SW-4 Solo 1.8 tonne was equipped with an Osprey 30 radar, manufactured by Leonardo, and with a 15’’ ElectroOptical/Infrared Camera, Goshawk II by Hensoldt, partner of the consortium.

The system was integrated with the CMS of the FREMM Martinengo and controlled by a station on the vessel, and carried out all the four planned missions, including detection, identification and recognition of the suspect vessel. The radar was activated for detection and identification, while the EO/EI camera was used for identification and auto-tracking.

Moreover, SW-4 supported Special Forces during boarding operations on the suspect vessel, sharing data with the portable mission stations, installed temporarily on the vessel and on the NH90 helicopter.

Mirach Family Expands

The M-40 is the latest addition to Leonardo’s Mirach family of target drones and was recently involved in a series of flights as part of a trials campaign. The tests saw the drones simulating modern airborne threats, allowing for the realistic demonstration of MBDA’s latest surface-to-air Mistral missile. A fleet of M-40 drones is in-service with the Italian Armed Forces, with Leonardo operating the targets on behalf of the Armed Forces on a managed service basis, providing trained crew and all necessary support. Other nations, including some of those attending the trial, have registered interest in a similar service model and the M-40 is also available for purchase as a standalone product.

Sophisticated Jamming Technology

At UMEX, Leonardo also promoted the BriteCloud decoy as a cost-effective way to protect increasingly high-value unmanned air systems from radar-guided threats. BriteCloud is a decoy jammer, which is the same size and form-factor as a standard flare and first went into service with the UK’s Royal Air Force on-board its Tornado GR4 fleet following extensive testing. The RAF is now working towards equipping its Typhoon fleet with BriteCloud. Until now, the focus has been on using BriteCloud on manned platforms. However, BriteCloud’s effectiveness and ability to be launched from standard chaff and flare dispenser is prompting some users to consider it as a protection option for high-value MALE (Medium Altitude, Long Endurance) unmanned platforms such as those being procured by nations across the Middle East.

BriteCloud packs sophisticated jamming technology into a very small and lightweight package. It is currently available in two variants: BriteCloud 55, which fits a standard 55mm ‘round’ flare dispenser, and BriteCloud 218, which fits 2x1x8 ‘square’ dispensers such as the widely-used AN/ALE-47. Both of these formats can be adopted without additional integration, so the user of a MALE unmanned platform with a radar-warner and standard countermeasure dispenser already on-board could cost-effectively add BriteCloud for immediate, high-grade protection from advanced, radar-guided missiles.

Both 55 and 218 variants of BriteCloud are also being considered for manned combat air requirements in the Middle East and beyond, with BriteCloud 55 being immediately suitable for Eurofighter Typhoons (as selected by Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait) while the 218 format variant, which was launched in 2017 following live trials with Danish F-16 fighter aircraft, is suitable for regional fleets of F-15 and F-16 jets.

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