How are unpopulated combat technologies developing overseasThe US leadership is modernizing and updating the weapons systems of the national armed forces, increasing the ability of troops to respond promptly and flexibly and adequately counter threats to national security.
Priority is given to new models of weapons and military equipment, including robotic complexes (RTK).
Ground, air and marine robotic systems are being actively developed and implemented, which are becoming one of the components of a modern system of technical means designed to conduct combat operations against a well-armed enemy in various conditions. The existing experience of using RTK shows the prospects of this direction.
TESTED IN COMBATAs you know, in fiscal year 2003, the US Congress recognized the need for "urgent testing, production and adoption of technologically ready robots and other unmanned vehicles for use in combat operations."
As a result, the theaters of US military operations in the Middle East have turned into a full-scale testing ground for the effectiveness of scientific and technological solutions embedded in the RTK. Several NATO countries have also joined the United States.
In Iraq, the Americans have worked out the technology of abandoning numerical advantage over the enemy due to technological superiority, the use of enemy destruction technologies combined into a single integrated system and high-speed information transmission.
Research organizations and industrial companies in Western countries have begun to create promising military and dual-use technologies for use in this subject area.
The Pentagon has adopted a number of programs for the development of ground, surface, underwater, aerial and space robotic systems, which are aimed at ensuring the technological superiority of the US Armed Forces over the armies of other countries (by increasing autonomy, increasing the accuracy of navigation and the amount of ammunition, energy efficiency, achieving low noise, etc.).
GROUND COMPLEXESGround-based robotic systems (NRTC) are being developed in the interests of the Ground Forces and Marines.
The task of developing and testing the forms and methods of using the NRTC is assigned to the command of scientific research on the construction of the US Army.
It is noted that it is necessary to develop not only the tactical and technical characteristics of the NRTC, but also the possibilities for their group (joint) use, regardless of belonging to a particular unit. The level of development of communication between man and machine is of key importance. The goal is to increase the "mental" function of the NRTC, the ability to make decisions independently, to achieve a technical level at which the device will be able to act on the battlefield as an independent combat or support unit.
Towards the end of the current decade, the topic of performing combat and support tasks by the forces of military units together with the NRTC, as well as NRTC groups with minimal human participation, will become more relevant.
Serious attention is paid to the creation of receiving and transmitting equipment. In order to increase the communication range, ground and air repeaters can be used. The automated installation of repeaters assumes that the NRTC, as the signal from the control point weakens, will push the repeater out of its cargo compartment or dump it from the platform to the ground.
Thus, firstly, it is possible with the help of the NRTC to create a network of repeaters that ensure the operation of technical means in a single information and communication space. Secondly, the NRTC will increase the range of communication with the operator in urban conditions, when working in tunnels, caves, etc. Another way to improve the quality of communication in these conditions may be the use of complexes with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
ANTHROPOMORPHIC ROBOTSSpecial attention is paid to the use of anthropomorphic robotic complexes (ARCS) for reconnaissance and special units of the Ground Forces when developing the autonomous application of the NRTC.
The use of ARTK becomes most relevant when conducting combat operations in special conditions. In addition to reducing the number of military personnel on the battlefield, ARTK will have a strong psychological impact on the enemy and force him to spend a significant amount of ammunition on defeating robots.
ARTK can be used as part of assault groups when conducting combat operations in an urbanized area. Based on the combat order of the assault group, combat ARCS can be used in subgroups: capture – robots- flamethrowers; fire support – robots- snipers and machine gunners; barriers – robots-sappers. Robots can also be used as observers and scouts. In all of these subgroups, they can operate ahead at a certain distance from their unit, covering the personnel.
Combat robots can be included in the units defending individual buildings, long-term firing structures, dominating heights, mountain passes, important road junctions, crossings over water barriers, etc. They can be used as observers, snipers, machine gunners, grenade throwers, flamethrowers and sappers.
The need for the use of ARTC will increase in proportion to the expansion of their tactical and technical characteristics and the confidence of the personnel of the units in the high level of their intellectual and physical abilities.
The use of the ARTC until 2025 is planned to be carried out as an assistant robot, which will accompany the serviceman like a service dog. It will be controlled by voice and/or gestures. At the same time, the physiological characteristics of the person controlling the robot should be embedded in the memory of the equipment. This is necessary to exclude unauthorized influence on the work of other people's ARTK.
By 2030, the role of robotic devices is expected to increase due to the use of bio–sensors in their design, which will allow them to classify a person and an animal (for example, a service dog) among moving objects comparable to them in size, thermal parameters and other characteristics without reducing the speed of movement. The robot's sensitive equipment will function more as a combined biosensor, rather than as a set of electronic components.
ROBOTS IN THE GROUPThe group application of ARTK implies the presence of a robot leader who will be an intermediary between a military operator and a group of heterogeneous specialized combat robots.
Having received a task from a human, the robot manager will automatically form and distribute management teams. At the same time, information characterizing the activity of the robot manager can be reflected on the operator's control panel, and its commands can be adjusted by the operator. In addition, this device can function autonomously after receiving a task from the operator. The robot manager receives signals from specialized machines, processes them and transmits them to the operator's control panel.
By controlling several robot managers, an operator or a command post calculation will be able to distribute tasks to large groups of military robots, which, presumably, will exchange information not only with the controlling robot, but also among themselves.
It is possible to create a network of robots controlled by a single operator or calculation. The further development of navigation and orientation tools for such machines consists in the creation of hardware and software tools that provide not only analysis of the current situation, but also prediction of the possible position of moving objects.
In the long-term perspective, it is planned to create a family of NRTCS that will have amphibious properties and act in concert when performing maneuvers as part of a group. It is expected that the overall management of such groups will be carried out by 3-5 operators.
ROBOTS AT SEASurface RTCs, in addition to reconnaissance tasks, also carry out anti-submarine defense (monitoring exits from ports and bases, ensuring the protection of aircraft carriers and strike groups in deployment areas, as well as during transitions to other areas, ensuring the actions of special operations forces, electronic warfare, etc.).
At the same time, defense and surveillance tasks can be carried out in cooperation with the UAV.
The technology of guarding warships standing in the harbor with the help of a "swarm" of armed robot boats is being worked out. In 2014, the CARACaS (Control Architecture for Robotic Agent Command and Sensing) technology was tested, implemented by a system of sensors and cameras of various types, computers, software and actuators that ensure the coordinated execution of combat missions as part of the "swarm".
In 2015, the US completed sea trials of an underwater autonomous robotic hunter complex designed for autonomous search, detection, identification and tracking of submarines and enemy surface vessels in ocean and sea areas. It was created as part of the program of the US Department of Defense Agency DARPA to create autonomous anti-submarine hunters of continuous tracking (ACTUV), which can be on combat duty for several months.
Within the framework of the "Underwater Forces" program, a universal combat underwater-air RTC is being developed. Underwater reconnaissance RTCs are being created to obtain data on the underwater situation in any area of the World Ocean. In addition to reconnaissance equipment, they will have weapons to participate in combat operations.
Programs are being implemented to develop robotic modules installed on the bottom to detect enemy submarines. Research is underway to create biomimetic RTCs and networks of uninhabited systems for continuous exploration of the underwater environment.
As part of the LDUUV (Large Displacement Unmanned Underwater Vehicle) program, an underwater complex is being developed that will act as a carrier ship for small autonomous underwater RTCs and be able to communicate with the operator via satellite channel. To expand the functionality of underwater RTCs, underwater generators are being developed to recharge them.
In order to ensure the possibility of operational deployment of the US Navy in any area of the World Ocean, the development of deep-sea UFP pop-up storage facilities (Upward Falling Payloads) is being carried out for the operational provision of warships with equipment, spare parts or consumables. According to the plan, these autonomous uninhabited underwater RTCs will stay on the ocean floor for a long time and surface if necessary.
ROBOTS IN THE AIRThe technology of refueling the UAV with fuel in the air from an airplane and another drone, as well as the technology of recharging onboard power sources with a laser beam, has been tested.
During the tests, new technologies were worked out: positioning using differential GPS, optical and laser positioning systems, distance measurement. The results achieved will make it possible in the future to form fully autonomous unmanned strike wings capable of striking in any region of the world.
A technology is being developed for using UAVs as a carrier of disposable drones to solve various tasks (simultaneous reconnaissance over large areas, breakthrough or defeat of active enemy air defense systems, etc.), which can self-destruct after completing the task.
As part of the Cicada (Covert Autonomous Disposable Aircraft), ICARUS (Inbound, Controlled, Air-Releasable, Unrecoverable Systems) and LOCUST (Low-Cost UAV Swarming Technology) programs, small-sized drones are being created that can perform combat missions simultaneously as part of a "flock" during both offensive and defensive combat operations. They can be launched from ships, army vehicles, airplanes, robot parachutes and other unmanned vehicles.
It provides for the interaction of UAVs with each other, with manned aircraft, with ground (land) and surface RTCs, as well as the distribution of intelligence information between various users during an offensive operation, including the transfer of intelligence data directly to mobile terminals worn by military personnel, in particular, to flexible OLED displays mounted on the arm.
The technology of breaking through the enemy's air defense system is being implemented as part of the LOCUST project, which provides for the sequential launch of autonomous disposable drones into the air using a tube launcher, after which the drones communicate with each other and interact to collectively complete the task. They can reveal the location of its air defense systems and give targeting to other means.
A technology is being developed for the transfer of reconnaissance and strike drones to any area of the globe using various flying platforms. This technology provides for the development of high-speed UAVs that are less vulnerable to air defense.
ROBOTS IN THE ARCTICGreat importance is attached in the United States to conducting exercises using various RTCs – both with and without the participation of military units.
In order to expand the possibilities of conducting combat operations in various regions of the world, to promptly compensate for losses and reduce dependence on the logistics services of the troops, technologies for manufacturing UAVs by 3D printing using field laboratories are being developed.
Due to the melting of the Arctic ice, research of the Arctic using robotics has intensified. The main research activity of the US Navy is the creation of mobile robotic means of collecting, analyzing and transmitting operational hydrographic information to support the activities of nuclear submarines. These works are carried out by the RTK forces created by the US Navy to monitor the hydrographic situation in the Russian sector of the Arctic.
The technology of continuous illumination of the underwater situation in the Arctic is being developed by deploying a network of magnetic (top) and acoustic (bottom) sensors installed on icebergs and large ice floes, as well as floating buoys with sensors. According to the plan, this network will complement the traditional ways of collecting information.
Vasily IvanovVasily Ivanovich Ivanov is a journalist.