Manned-Unmanned Architecture Development

The US Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) recently awarded GE Aviation a project task assignment for the Teaming-Enabled Architectures for Manned-Unmanned Systems (TEAMS) prototype programme, the company announced on 22 January. The project is under the authority of the Base Vertical Lift Consortium Project Agreement and is sponsored by AFRL.

“The TEAMS programme is a tremendous opportunity for GE to work closely with AFRL and our industry partners to prototype architectures that will enable the next generation of manned-unmanned teaming capabilities,” commented Director of Advanced and Special Programmes for GE Aviation, John Kormash. “GE’s experience and investments in the areas of architecture, modelling,
simulation, and system instantiations will enhance the AFRL’s objectives of developing open, flexible, and scalable solutions for tomorrow’s autonomous vehicles.”

TEAMS is an architectural modelling and prototyping effort under the AFRL’s Flexible, Assured Manned-Unmanned Systems (FAMUS) programme, which intends to lay a technical foundation for an operational reality in which a heterogeneous, multi-man, multi-machine team-of-teams can perform a range of missions in a flexible and assured manner. By prototyping an iterative, architecture-centric and model-based approach under TEAMS, FAMUS intends to define the architectures, processes, methods, tools, and environments necessary to rapidly mature and affordably transition increasingly complex manned-unmanned teaming technologies.

Also contributing to this prototype are team members Modern Technology Solutions (MTSI), Scientific Systems Company (SSCI), Dependable Computing and GE Global Research Center (GRC).