Quad A 2011: US Army tunes up for inaugural MUSIC exercise

The first exercise comprising the US Army's Manned Unmanned Systems Integration Capability (MUSIC) will take place in September this year, service officials have announced.

According to the army, the exercise will be played out at Dugway Proving Ground in Utah with plans for further evolutions every two years. It is designed to demonstrate interoperability and systems integration amongst a variety of aviation assets including the AH-64D Block II; OH-58D Kiowa Warrior; MQ-1C Gray Eagle; MQ-5 Hunter; RQ-7 Shadow; RQ-11B Raven; Puma AE; One System Remote Video Terminal (OSRVT); and Universal Ground Control Station (UGCS).

Designed to implement the army's Interoperability Profile (IOP) version set 2.0, fielded in Capability Set (CS) 13-14, the exercise will 'set the stage for future interoperability improvements to benefit the warfighter and army community'. This is hoped to provide seamless cooperation from UAS to UAS; UAS to manned platform; and UAS/manned platform to ground assets.  The exercise is also expected to involve a live range package for the 'target identification and verification and kinetic engagement'.

More specifically, Col Gregory Gonzalez, project manager UAS, said the exercise would involve the operation of Shadow, Hunter and Gray Eagle UASs from a single UGCS, thereby reducing  training and procurement costs in the future. It will also include the use of the Triclops sensor for the Gray Eagle, allowing 'multiple stare points' from a single payload.

Raven and Puma small UAS will be controlled from the mini-UGCS which will also be able to control the payloads of larger systems. Additionally, OSVRT will be capable of controlling Shadow and Gray Eagle sensors. However, the 'big issue' according to Tim Owings, deputy project manager UAS, will be the 'prioritisation cues for assets in relation to the number of demands on payloads'.

Speaking at the Quad A annual exposition in Nashville, Gonzalez added that the exercise would contribute to the forthcoming roll-out of armed reconnaissance squadrons within the 'first full spectrum'101st Combat Aviation Brigade which will take charge of multiple unmanned and manned air assets.

'It will be a test-bed unit, providing lessons learnt for the next unit and development of tactics, techniques and procedures [TTPs],' Gonzalez said.

According to Col Shane Openshaw, project manager for the Apache Attack Helicopter Program, the exercise will prove what manned and unmanned systems can do together. 'The exercise will show maturation of architecture as well as TTPs,' he explained while adding how he hoped to include AH-64D Block III aircraft in future exercises as well as potential for Chinook and Black Hawk helicopters.

Lt Col Kirk McCauley, responsible for Kiowa Warrior, concluded: 'UASs allow us to expand our ability to conduct reconnaissance much further than we can in the platform alone'.