Airbus demos in-flight autonomous guidance of target drone with tanker

MILAN — Airbus Defence and Space, in cooperation with the company’s subsidiary UpNext, said it successfully demonstrated autonomous guidance and control of a Do-DT25 target drone using an A310 aircraft during test flights in Spain.

On March 21, UpNext performed its first flight-test campaign toward the development of autonomous and uncrewed air-to-air refueling technologies as part of its Auto’Mate project .

The A310 Multi-Role Tanker Transport test bed took off at the company’s site in Getafe while four DT25 multipurpose target drones, acting as receiver aircraft, were launched back to back from the Arenosillo Test Centre in Huelva.

Once over the waters of the Gulf of Cadiz, the control of the unmanned aircraft passed over from a ground station to the tanker, which autonomously guided it to an in-flight refueling position.

“The first flight test lasted about six hours, where a total of four launched receivers were sequentially controlled and commanded via artificial intelligence and cooperative control without human interaction,” Borja García de Sola, external communications manager at Airbus Defence and Space, told reporters. “The different receivers were then controlled until they were at a minimum recorded distance of 150 feet from the A310.”

A second test flight under the same concept, with four DT25 drones and an A310 tanker, also took place on March 23. Together, the systems flew about 12 hours using eight unmanned aircraft.

Both types of aircraft were integrated with Auto’Mate demonstrator technologies including cameras, light detection and ranging — otherwise known as LiDAR — and high-precision GPS to monitor the position, speed and altitudes between them; intra-flight communication systems; and cooperative control algorithms to provide coordination and consensus.

During the briefing, company officials revealed that a second campaign will take place at the end of 2023, with trial flights carried out at the same location.

While in the first push, the company controlled the receivers in two different configurations and autonomously guided them to different positions with diverse navigation sources, the second will focus on more in-depth testing of AI for navigation and autonomous flight.

In addition, the latter will include two simulated drones flying in the proximity of the tanker aircraft to demonstrate multi-receiver autonomous operations and collision-avoidance algorithms, García de Sola explained.

These experiments are paving the way toward achieving what the company refers to as autonomous assets air-to-air refueling , defined as the ability to independently transfer and receive fuel midair. That so-called A4R system allows for the refueling of several aircraft simultaneously and at a faster rate, reduces the size of tanker crew, and enables extended-range missions for the drones.

Elisabeth Gosselin-Malo was a Europe correspondent for Defense News. She covers a wide range of topics related to military procurement and international security, and specializes in reporting on the aviation sector. She is based in Milan, Italy.

米兰——空中客车防务与航天公司与其子公司 UpNext 合作，在西班牙的试飞中成功演示了使用 A310 飞机对 Do-DT25 靶机进行自主制导和控制。

3月21日，UpNext公司开展了其Auto'Mate项目的一部分，旨在开发自主无人空中加油技术，并进行了首次飞行测试活动。

A310 多用途加油运输机试验台在赫塔菲的公司基地起飞，与此同时，四架 DT25 多用途靶机（作为接收机）从韦尔瓦的阿雷诺西略试验中心连续起飞。

无人机飞越加的斯湾水域后，其控制权从地面站移交给油轮，油轮自主引导无人机到达空中加油位置。

空中客车防务与航天公司对外沟通经理博尔哈·加西亚·德索拉告诉记者：“首次飞行测试持续了约六个小时，期间共发射了四个接收器，这些接收器通过人工智能和协同控制技术依次进行控制和指令，无需人工干预。随后，各个接收器被控制至距离A310飞机至少150英尺（约46米）的位置。”

3月23日，又进行了一次采用相同概念的第二次试飞，使用了四架DT25无人机和一架A310加油机。该系统共使用了八架无人机，飞行时间约为12小时。

这两种类型的飞机都集成了 Auto'Mate 演示器技术，包括摄像头、激光雷达（LiDAR）和高精度 GPS，用于监控它们之间的位置、速度和高度；飞行中通信系统；以及协作控制算法，以提供协调和共识。

在简报会上，公司官员透露，第二次活动将于 2023 年底举行，试飞将在同一地点进行。

在第一阶段，该公司控制了两种不同配置的接收器，并利用各种导航源自主引导它们到达不同的位置；第二阶段将重点对用于导航和自主飞行的 AI 进行更深入的测试。

加西亚·德·索拉解释说，此外，后者还将包括两架模拟无人机在加油机附近飞行，以演示多接收器自主操作和防撞算法。

这些实验正为实现该公司所称的自主资产空中加油铺平道路，其定义为在空中独立进行燃料输送和接收的能力。这种所谓的A4R系统能够同时为多架飞机加油，速度更快，减少加油机机组人员的数量，并使无人机能够执行更远航程的任务。

伊丽莎白·戈斯林-马洛曾任《防务新闻》欧洲通讯员。她的报道涵盖军事采购和国际安全等广泛领域，尤其擅长航空领域的报道。她常驻意大利米兰。