AAI Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) and Aurora Flight Sciences enter into a strategic agreement for combining the services of Universal Ground Control Station from AAI and Orion UAS and Optionally Piloted Aircraft (OPA) from Aurora Flight Sciences.
Through the agreement, the Orion UAS will undertake long-endurance missions at medium altitudes for a maximum duration of five days. Orion and Centaur OPA together will be in a position to take on first responder and scientific missions.
Multiple UAS support by UGCS
The UGCS from AAI is compliant with 4586-compliant command-and-control platform with the help of the One System architecture. The communication system of the UGCS consists of a digital tactical common data link which provides secure data transmission over robust bandwidths. The system is capable of operating multiple joint service UAS at the same time. The senior VP at AAI explained that their UGCS can support General Atomics Gray Eagle and the Northrop Grumman’s Hunter UAS. He added that the alliance with Aurora Flight Sciences will help in providing intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance services to the US Army. AAI UAS was involved in designing the One System architecture-based cockpit solution along with members of Boeing’s helicopter crew for the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopter from Bell for transmitting the videos and data gathered by the UAS. AAI markets this solution in the name of Tactical Sensor Intelligence Sharing System (Tac-SIS).
The Orion UAS will be tested on a five-day endurance mission at an altitude of 20,000 ft carrying a payload of 1,000 lbs by the United States Central Command or CENTCOM. By integrating with the open-architecture payload and ground station interface, Orion will be able to support different payloads. Apart from the integration discussed in the previous sections, the two companies will also be working on integrating other ground control technologies from AAI with Orion UAS and Centaur OPA. The other technology under consideration is the Forward Airborne Secure Transmission and Communication, or FASTCOM which is a mobile telecommunication system useful in creating a flexible mobile network for communications through smartphones or Tac-SIS.