Mission System Crucial for US Army’s FVL

Collins Aerospace has demonstrated a mission system that will support operations of Air-Launched Effects (ALE) from the US Army’s enduring and Future Vertical Lift (FVL) fleets.

ALE is a concept that will see helicopters launching small UAVs for different roles at various points of a mission. A key enabler for ALE is a mission system that will allow crews to control the UAVs and to receive data collected by them. The technology Collins has demonstrated is a mission system called RapidEdge, comprising radios, data-handling capabilities, mission computing systems, and autopilots/AI systems on board the UAV.

The demonstration involved pieces of hardware in two geographically distant locations, carrying out operationally representative tasks and communicating securely. One set of equipment was in the company’s lab in Cedar Rapids, IA, while the other was in its Customer Experience Center in Huntsville, AL. The system “successfully executed tactically relevant ALE behaviors while communicating via a cross-domain multi-level security solution,” the company stated.

“We designed our RapidEdge mission system solution for this market with a robust and resilient open systems approach at a high technological and manufacturing readiness level,” Heather Robertson, VP/GM of Collins Aerospace’s integrated solutions business. “The offering is primed to meet the Army’s aggressive program schedule while delivering a critical capability.”