Good news, Ordnance Science and Technology 2024 11th issue of "2024 Taiwan Military Exercise" is newly listed, friends who like it can pay attention to the WeChat public account Ordnance Science and Technology Express or scan the QR code in the article to buy! (Two books are 90% off, three books are 8% off, and four books are 7% off, and there are discounts in the mall)
In 2018, the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory released a video on March 22 in which the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory demonstrated concepts such as "loyal wingmen," "leprechauns," high-power microwave weapons, and sixth-generation aircraft. In the "Leprechaun" concept demonstration screen, the cargo door of the C-130 transport aircraft is opened, and the robot pushes a launcher out of the hatch. Hundreds of small drones then detach and fly around the transport plane, and the science fiction level of their technology is breathtaking.
Promotional image of the "Pixies" project
"Pixies" project
In recent years, the US Air Force's military strategy has quietly changed, and it no longer blindly pursues a large and complete air combat platform like the F-35, because the cost of such weapons is too expensive, and it is difficult to deal with the advanced integrated air defense systems of neighboring countries. Thus, the United States proposed and formed the concept of distributed air operations. The connotation of the concept is: a large number of small and low-cost UAVs with a single function decompose the capabilities of traditional large-scale multi-functional platforms, and with the limited intervention of air combat administrators and the support of artificial intelligence technology, each platform cooperates to complete combat missions in a group form. The realization of distributed air operations requires breakthroughs in various technologies such as air launch and recovery, airframe platforms, cooperative operations, open system architecture, and battlefield management.
In this context, on September 16, 2015, DARPA announced the interdepartmental announcement of the "Elf" project, seeking innovative technologies and system solutions for air-launched low-cost small UAV clusters in a strong confrontation environment, and designing low-cost, reusable "Elf" UAVs and airborne UAV launch and recovery equipment.
DARPA believes that in the absence of reliable land- or sea-based landing sites, air-based recovery will be the simplest logistical and lowest-cost solution for small UAVs with a large combat radius, in addition to the advantages of minimal impact on UAV performance and rapid re-launch. Therefore, the main goal of the "Pixies" project is to explore the feasibility of aerial launch and recovery of small UAV swarms, and to carry out demonstration and verification tests.
According to DARPA's bidding opinions, the design load of the Pixie UAV reaches 27.3~54.5 kg
According to the assumption of the D ARPA, the "elf" UAV swarm will be launched in the air by C-130 transport planes, B-52/B-1 bombers and other platforms outside the enemy's defense area, and cooperate with other manned platforms in the air to carry out ISR, electronic warfare, destruction of the missile defense system and other tasks, after the mission is completed, exit the enemy defense area, and a C-130 transport plane will recover the group in the air and return home, and the ground crew can complete the preparation of the "elf plane" for the next mission within 24 hours. According to reports, the Phantom is expected to be reused about 20 times, providing a significant cost advantage over consumable systems by reducing payload and airframe costs. Compared with traditional UAVs that have been in service for decades, the maintenance cost and mission cost of the "Genie Machine" are also lower.
DARPA disclosed the design goals of the "Pixie" UAV in the bidding: a combat radius of 555~926 kilometers; Endurance time: 1~3 hours; Design load 27.3~54.5 kg; Flight speed 0.7~0.8 Mach; The launch height is more than 12,192 meters; The propulsion system can be selected from the existing engine, the improved engine or the newly designed engine; Payload power 800~1200 watts; Payload modular design, which should include optoelectronic / infrared sensors, radio systems, etc.; The drone can be reused at least 20 times; The ex-factory unit price (excluding load) is less than $700,000; Large platforms can launch more than 20 drones; Recover 8 or more drones within 30 minutes; The successful recovery rate is greater than 95%; The probability of the launch or recovery platform crashing due to the distributed air combat carried out by the "Pixie" UAV is less than 10-7 times per flight hour; The time for re-launch after recovery is no more than 24 hours; The cost of retrofitting the launch recovery platform (excluding the command and control system) does not exceed $2 million; The launch platform is not limited to C-130 transport aircraft, B-52/B-1 bombers.
The UAV of the project "Pixies" presented by General Dynamics
Operational concept
The "Elf" UAV is designed with a maximum combat radius of 926 kilometers, which is close to the F-35 fighter, and can realize communication relay through networking during formation operations, and support fighters from long distances to carry out over-the-horizon strikes; Using transport aircraft/bombers as the aerial launch recovery platform of UAVs, these large manned aircraft, especially bombers, have a combat radius several times that of fighters, and can carry "elf" UAVs deep into the opponent's defense area to perform tasks; The "Elf" UAV is designed to have a maximum load of 54.5 kg, and in addition to the conventional optoelectronic / infrared load, it can be equipped with electronic warfare, submarine exploration equipment, etc., to replace high-value manned aircraft to perform a variety of tasks. The combined use of transport/bombers, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and manned fighters will comprehensively improve the combat range, deployment flexibility and safety of air equipment, and form a new air supremacy capability and combat mode. The "air carrier," which comes and goes without a trace and can be reduced to zero at any time, has taken into account the two major goals of reducing casualties and enhancing combat effectiveness.
Ordnance Science and Technology Magazine WeChat Mall, long press or scan the QR code to enter the store to buy
It should be noted that the non-stealthy C-130 transport aircraft is not the most ideal platform to carry on board. At the third stage, the military may ask to order a stealth "mothership" to assume the role of an "air carrier". For the U.S. Air Force, the so-called "mothership" may be a modified B-21 bomber; For the Navy, it could also be the next-generation carrier-based bomber MQ-25, whose details have not yet been revealed.
More advanced "air carriers" are able to more boldly break into hostile airspace without being detected. The following scenarios are likely to appear on the battlefield in the future: the enemy's radar screen is instantly "swiped" by dozens of "elf" drones that pour out, and then they are broken into pieces to carry out their respective tasks, and disappear without a trace on the radar.
The "Pixie" UAV is designed to have a maximum combat radius of 926 kilometers, which is close to the F-35 fighter
Significance
In view of the fact that the main combat object of the integrated air defense system of China, Russia and other countries is the traditional large-scale multi-functional platform, DARPA believes that compared with the current conventional combat style, distributed air combat has a higher cost-effectiveness ratio in a strong confrontation environment. First, in the anti-access/area denial environment, small UAVs have a strong ability to infiltrate the enemy's defense zone in an individual manner. Secondly, the small UAV will be "saturated" with the enemy's defense system and unable to deal with it all, and even if it is defended, it will need expensive ground-to-air missiles to attack a cheap single small UAV, which will significantly increase the defense cost. Finally, small UAV swarms can also be arranged and combined in real time to achieve the optimal combat capability according to the enemy situation and their own losses, so as to complete the task in a group mode under the limited command of manned aircraft such as F-22 and F-35, and have strong combat flexibility. Distributed air operations characterized by small swarms of UAVs
It is very different from the current air combat style, and if the US military practices this concept on a large scale in the future, the development of its air combat equipment will inevitably change. The pace of technological renewal of large multi-functional manned air platforms will be slowed down, and the number of equipment may be significantly reduced, such as DARPA believes that the F-35 may be the last large multi-purpose fighter in the United States; At the same time, key technologies related to low-cost UAVs, cruise missiles, and missiles will be emphasized, and more and more low-end platforms will appear in the air combat equipment system; In addition, high-performance small-scale airborne radio frequency and weapon payload technologies may become an important development direction. Finally, autonomous and coordinated swarm operations will promote the rapid improvement of the artificial intelligence level of air combat platforms. In short, the characteristics of the airframe, intelligent platform, and miniaturization of payload drawn by the concept of distributed air combat will bring about major changes in the development of future air combat equipment.
The "Pixies" project is an important part of DARPA's exploration of distributed air combat technologies
The "Pixies" project is an important part of DARPA's exploration of distributed air combat technologies. The project aims to support the U.S. military's distributed air operations concept for great power confrontation by exploring key technologies such as air launch and recovery of small UAV swarms. This operational concept will not only subvert the current combat style and equipment development thinking with large multi-functional platforms such as the F-35 and B-21 as the core, but also bring major challenges to the enemy's defense, and will also be an important way to greatly reduce combat costs.
However, the development of "Pixies" is not a simple matter, in the technical specifications of DARPA, the key technologies that need to be broken through in the "Pixies" project include: air launch and recovery technology, equipment load and airframe integration concept design, low-cost structure design, finite life design, automatic go-around strategy, accurate digital flight control and navigation, small and efficient turbine engine, automatic engine shutdown technology, small distributed load integration technology, precise position maintenance technology, etc., the technology is complex and difficult. It remains to be seen whether the trip will take place.