DD: Boeing's J-UCAS Evades Simulated Targets In Latest Flight

From Defense Daily:

Boeing's J-UCAS Evades Simulated Targets In Latest Flight
Defense Daily 08/11/05

Two Boeing [BA] X-45A unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) successfully maneuvered away from simulated "pop-up" threats and autonomously determined which of the two UAVS was better situated to attack the higher priority simulated target, according to a company statement.
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The Joint-Unmanned Combat Air System (J-UCAS) X-45 program is a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency/Air Force/Navy/Boeing effort to demonstrate the technical feasibility, military utility and operational value of an unmanned air combat system for the Navy and Air Force, according to Boeing.

For test flights 63 and 64, the X-45As departed from the base, climbed to altitude, and autonomously used their on-board decision-making software to determine the best route of flight within the "area of action" or AoA. The pilot on the ground approved the plan and the two unmanned vehicles entered the AoA, a 30 by 60 mile area within the test range, ready to perform a simulated Preemptive Destruction-Suppression
of Enemy Air Defenses mission. The mission involved identifying, attacking and destroying pre-identified ground- based radars and associated missile launchers before they could be used to launch surface-to-air missiles, according to the company.

The next step for Boeing is to build and flight test three X-45C aircraft, two mission control elements, and integrate the J-UCAS Common Operating System (the software used and tested on the X-45A may be offered as a candidate for functionality in the development of the J-UCAS Common Operating System ). The first X-45C will be completed in 2006, with flight tests scheduled to begin in 2007. It will be 39-feet long with a 49-foot wingspan, cruise at 0.80 Mach at an altitude of
40,000 feet, carry a 4,500-pound weapon payload, and be able to fly a combat radius of more than 1,200 nautical miles

The engineers on this task have a lot of work ahead of them. It is pretty exciting stuff. The total autonomous nature is going to be the tough nut to crack. It is very hard to think of all types of situations for the computer to be able to react appropriately. Some of the engineering problems out there are pretty cool to work on, and this is definately one of them.

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