Military officials from across all branches, federal security personnel, and industry leaders gathered at the AUVSI Defense conference, held Sept. 22 in Alexandria, Virginia, to discuss critical issues surrounding the integration of uncrewed technologies.
In a publication released Oct. 11, AUVSI Senior Economic Research Analyst Aaron Bull summarized key topics discussed at the event, including:
- defense priorities for the next-generation uncrewed system
- how uncrewed systems will impact the ways wars are fought
- lessons learned by senior defense leaders from the Bayraktar TB2 in Ukraine.
Download the “The Changing Landscape of Military Uncrewed Systems”.
The Bayraktar TB2 surveillance/attack drone (Photo: Baykartech)
Highlights from the Report
Flexibility in the fighting force is needed, which affects the defense requirements for autonomous vehicles heading to the battlefield.
Multiple speakers pointed to the Turkish Bayraktar TB2, a cost-effective combat-capable drone purchased and fielded by the Ukrainian armed forces that has been a game changer for Ukraine since the war began. While the drone is not top of the line, it was fielded quickly, required little training and could be fitted for a variety of purposes. As a result, “Nearly every speaker came prepared to discuss the need for developing multiple layers of flexibility around the U.S. fighting force,” Bull writes.
An uncrewed vehicle that can be refitted for multiple missions of different types offers an inherent advantage for missions, and it requires supporting logistical infrastructure.
Requirements include:
- flexibility and disguise of role
- ability to outfit to different technical and operating capabilities
- flexibility to operate with different levels of human interaction
- modularity to re-fit the drone around the mission
- hardware-to-hardware modularity
- software-to-hardware modularity.