Air University takes drone testing to Maxwell airfield
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DVIDS - GeorgiaThe three-day event included testing involving artificial intelligence and coordinated operations with the 42d Air Base Wing's security forces and airfield operations personnel. BESPIN, based at Gunter Annex, and Rownd also participated.
The work had two objectives: establish procedures for continued small drone operations at Maxwell and examine how security forces detect and identify unmanned aircraft operating on the airfield.
"The emerging threat posed by small UAS operations is one that we are currently unprepared for in our fullest," said Lt. Col. Christopher Weston, an Air University analyst. "The technology is maturing at a rate that is rapidly iterating our capability to respond to."
Weston said the Air Force needs opportunities to operate small drones, understand their capabilities and examine how to defend against them. The work could help inform future approaches to protecting installations needed to launch, recover and sustain combat operations.
The idea for the event began about a year ago when Weston was walking near Maxwell's airfield during lunch. He saw an opportunity to use the installation's available space to work on emerging operational problems.
Through Alpha Blue, an Air University effort examining counter-drone challenges, Weston began working with others on ways to address the threat.
The October event brought that work onto the airfield.
Air University personnel coordinated the flights with the 42d Air Base Wing. Security forces examined their ability to detect and identify small drones during the operations, while airfield personnel helped coordinate the activity with Maxwell's existing missions.
"This is the first event of its kind that has been coordinated on Maxwell Air Force Base," Weston said.
The event also brought technology developers and installation defenders into the same operating environment.
An August engineering briefing described ongoing work on systems designed to connect unmanned aircraft, operator controls and command-and-control networks. The projects address aircraft autonomy, mission planning, sensor information and communications among multiple aircraft.
Integration and validation work remains underway.
Weston said operating unmanned aircraft is necessary to understand both how the technology can be used and the threats it may present.
"If we are unable to understand the technology or the capability due to lack of familiarity or actually operating that equipment or that technology, we will not be able to understand the many ways in which it could be used, both for or against us," Weston said.
He pointed to lessons from the conflict in Europe, where unmanned aircraft have shown how quickly technology and tactics can change.
"The goal is to be on the winning side of that OODA loop," Weston said, referring to the observe, orient, decide and act decision-making cycle.
At Maxwell, the work gives Air University an opportunity to examine emerging technology with personnel responsible for installation defense.
The university draws on expertise from across its organizations and technology partners. The 42d Air Base Wing provides the installation coordination and participation needed to conduct the activity.
The effort shows how Air University operates as an integrated enterprise, bringing together expertise from its schools, centers and other organizations to address operational problems. That work supports the university's mission to forge expert joint warfighters and solve operational problems for the Joint Force.
In this case, the focus is air base defense. The testing connects technical development with the Airmen responsible for protecting installations needed to generate combat power.
Weston said the October event is intended to establish a foundation for continued testing rather than produce a final answer to the counter-drone problem.
"So this is the first of what is hopefully many iterations and rapid iterations, in a cycle that will help us get not only up to speed, but to be ahead of the threat," he said.
The team plans to use the event to support additional small drone operations at Maxwell and continue examining the challenges they present.
"The goal for this current exercise is to set and lay the groundwork for small UAS operations, particularly here at Maxwell Air Force Base," Weston said.
For Weston, the next step is to keep using the airfield to examine emerging capabilities and give installation defenders opportunities to work with the technology before they encounter it as a threat.
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