Tag Archives: Air Force Research Laboratory

Air, Air Force, Unmanned Systems

Valkyrie

To reduce risk to aircrews by integrating their activities with uncrewed aerial vehicles with artificial intelligence capabilities, the Air Force Research Laboratory led a successful three-hour sortie, July 25, 2023, demonstrating the first-ever flight of artificial intelligence agents (algorithms) controlling an uncrewed jet aircraft – the XQ-58A Valkyrie.

XQ-58A Valkyrie
An F-15E Strike Eagle from the 96th Test Wing’s 40th Flight Test Squadron at Eglin Air Force Base (AFB), Florida flies in formation with an XQ-58A Valkyrie flown by artificial intelligence agents developed by the Autonomous Air Combat Operations, or AACO, team from AFRL. The algorithms matured during millions of hours in high fidelity AFSIM simulation events, 10 sorties on the X-62 VISTA, Hardware-in-the-Loop events with the XQ-58A, and ground test operations (U.S. Air Force photo)

Test units executed the flight in the Eglin Test and Training Complex. The flight was the culmination of the previous two years of partnership that began with the SkyBorg Vanguard program.

«The mission proved out a multi-layer safety framework on an AI/ML-flown uncrewed aircraft and demonstrated an AI/ML agent solving a tactically relevant “challenge problem” during airborne operations», said Colonel Tucker Hamilton, chief, Artificial Intelligence (AI) Test and Operations, for the Department of the Air Force. «This sortie officially enables the ability to develop AI/Machine Learning (ML) agents that will execute modern air-to-air and air-to-surface skills that are immediately transferrable to the CCA program».

The algorithms were developed by AFRL’s Autonomous Air Combat Operations team. The algorithms matured millions of hours in high fidelity simulation events, sorties on the X-62 VISTA, Hardware-in-the-Loop events with the XQ-58A, and ground test operations, as depicted in the video at the link below.

«AACO has taken a multi-pronged approach to unmanned flight testing of machine learning Artificial Intelligence and has met operational experimentation objectives by using a combination of High-performance computing, modeling and simulation, and hardware in the loop testing to train an AI agent to safely fly the XQ-58 unmanned aircraft», said AACO Program Manager, Doctor Terry Wilson.

DOD is committed to the responsible employment of AI. To achieve responsible use of AI requires teaming of developers and users of AI enabled autonomy working in collaboration with acquisition specialists.

«AI will be a critical element to future warfighting and the speed at which we’re going to have to understand the operational picture and make decisions», said Brigadier General Scott Cain, AFRL commander. «AI, Autonomous Operations, and Human-Machine Teaming continue to evolve at an unprecedented pace and we need the coordinated efforts of our government, academia, and industry partners to keep pace».

Air, Air Force

Terahertz Communications

Air Force Research Laboratory, or AFRL, researchers successfully conducted flight experiments December 2-6, 2022, in Rome, New York to prove the viability of communications at radio frequencies above 300 gigahertz, or GHz, known in research communities as terahertz, or THz, band. Over three days of flight experiments, researchers from AFRL’s Information Directorate, in collaboration with Northrop Grumman and Calspan Flight Research, conducted measurement of propagation loss between two aircraft at Air Force relevant altitudes and ranges.

Terahertz Communications
Left: State-of-the-art terahertz, or THz, communications transceiver system was placed on an aircraft test AFRL’s Terahertz Communications program which aims to determine the viability of using terahertz band frequencies to service future Department of the Air Force communication needs. Right: The transceiver installation on the aircraft is pointed toward a window where standard glass was replaced with THz transparent material to facilitate communications with another aircraft (Courtesy photo)

Propagation loss is a measure of the reduction in the frequency intensity as the frequency propagates away from one aircraft to another. It is defined as the difference between the source level and the received frequency level.

«AFRL has been an early supporter of research and development in sub-THz and THz frequencies and since 2014, we have been enabling innovative communications and networking technologies at this new spectrum frontier», said Doctor Ngwe Thawdar, AFRL program manager and subject matter expert. «Terahertz frequencies are currently underutilized due to lack of advanced electronic devices but with recent advances in radio frequency, or RF, electronics; however, the past two decades of research and development from DARPA Microelectronics Technology Office have made it possible for experimentation in terahertz band».

The flight experiments are a part of AFRL’s Terahertz Communications program which aims to determine the viability of utilizing terahertz band frequencies to service future Department of the Air Force communication needs.

«There were physics-based models but no known terahertz channel propagation data for airborne communications before our experiments», said Thawdar.

Research institutions in the U.S., Europe and Asia are conducting early channel-sounding work but to date they have been at short ranges on the ground, she added.

Almost all RF systems commercial or defense utilize a combination of frequency bands below 100 GHz to create airborne and satellite links for voice, data, and command and control communications, Thawdar said. Since frequencies above 300 GHz remain unregulated, increasing demand for higher data rates in communication systems has led the research community, including AFRL, and wireless industry companies to seek the next available wide bandwidth by exploring new parts of the spectrum.

The research was assisted by Northrop Grumman’s Terahertz Electronics program, which aims to produce critical device and integration technologies required for ensuring the development of compact, high-performance electronic circuits capable of operating at various frequencies.

«This experiment is a significant advance in radio frequency technology capabilities», said Doctor William Deal, Northrop Grumman terahertz technologist. «Pushing system frequencies into the submillimeter wave range opens significant new portions of the electromagnetic spectrum to practical applications. With our expertise and long-term investments in advanced microelectronics, we are uniquely qualified to further mature the technology for future mission needs».

The AFRL experiments are the first THz communications flight tests to deliver an important technical milestone toward the Air Force’s electromagnetic spectrum dominance, according to Thawdar.

Space

Cislunar Patrol System

The Air Force Research Laboratory has awarded a $72 million contract to Advanced Space LLC to demonstrate space situational awareness, object detection and tracking in the region of the Moon, supporting a resurgence of interest in lunar exploration and development across civil, commercial and international space agencies.

Cislunar Highway Patrol System (CHPS)
AFRL awards contract for pioneering spacecraft in region of Moon

AFRL’s Space Vehicles Directorate awarded the contract to support the lab’s Oracle spacecraft program, previously called the Cislunar Highway Patrol System, or CHPS. The project has been renamed Oracle after the Oracle of Delphi in ancient Greece. The high priestess of the Oracle would channel the knowledge of Apollo and provide wisdom and foresight to those with whom she would consult.

The name was chosen to acknowledge the accomplishments of the Apollo program and the U.S. Space Force’s commitment to support NASA as they return to the Moon. The Oracle spacecraft is projected to launch in late 2025, with two years of on-orbit experimentation.

«Our primary goals for the program are to advance techniques to detect previously unknown objects through search and discovery, to detect small or distant objects, and to study spacecraft positioning and navigation in the XGEO realm», said Doctor James Frith, Oracle principal investigator.

AFRL often uses the term XGEO to refer to the space beyond geosynchronous orbit out to the Moon, 10 times further than the traditional operational regime for U.S. Space Force and U.S. Space Command. Oracle will operate in the vicinity of Earth-Moon Lagrange Point 1, at a range of about 320,000 kilometers, or about 200,000 miles from Earth. The current Space Surveillance Network has a mixture of sensors on Earth or in traditional orbits like GEO. It is optimized to track satellites at GEO and below, or within distances of 36,000 kilometers, or 22,369 miles.

«Oracle is the culmination of years of ongoing research at AFRL into how to detect and track objects in XGEO given the vast distances, challenges of lunar and solar exclusion, and complexity introduced by the Moon’s gravity», Frith said.

An additional goal of Oracle is to help mature AFRL’s green propellant Advanced Spacecraft Energetic Non-Toxic, or ASCENT, that will carry a refueling port. While there are no specific plans yet to refuel Oracle, AFRL wants to encourage civil and commercial development of on-orbit refueling services.

«We have a great deal to learn when it comes to operating, navigating and communicating from cislunar space and the more distant XGEO region», said Colonel Jeremy Raley, the director of AFRL’s Space Vehicles Directorate. «We look forward to working with Advanced Space LLC, as we deliver novel space capabilities, thereby providing a safe and sustainable cislunar environment».

Space

Space Solar Power

In honor of Earth Day, the Air Force Research Laboratory, or AFRL, is highlighting its efforts toward harnessing the Sun’s energy, converting it to Radio Frequency, or RF, and beaming it to the Earth providing a green power source for the U.S. and allied forces.

SSPIDR
Day focus – Beaming solar power from satellite array

Key technologies need to be developed to make such a challenging process a reality.

In response to this challenge, AFRL formed the Space Solar Power Incremental Demonstrations and Research, or SSPIDR, project to develop the critical technologies needed for such a system. These technologies include further improving solar cell efficiencies; solar to RF conversion and beam forming; reducing large temperature fluctuations on spacecraft components; and deployable structure concept designs.

«A major objective of SSPIDR is to break the one-meter-squared aperture threshold for solar power capture and conversion, and beam that energy to the ground», said James Winter, AFRL principal engineer and SSPIDR project manager. «AFRL will do this with Arachne, SSPIDR’s keystone flight experiment that is anticipated to launch in early 2025».

Other demonstrations of the target technologies include the Space Power INcremental DepLoyables Experiment, or SPINDLE, – a deployable structures experiment still undergoing trade studies, and the Space Power InfRared Regulation and Analysis of Lifetime, or SPIRRAL, experiment – a thermal experiment exploring the concept of using variable emissivity materials to reduce the large temperature swings experienced by spacecraft components on orbit. SPIRRAL is anticipated to launch in 2023 for a test campaign onboard the International Space Station.

«The technologies demonstrated by Arachne, SPINDLE and SPIRRAL will pave the way for an integrated large scale, space-based solar power system capable of collecting solar energy, converting it to RF and beaming it to a receiving station on the ground for conversion to clean, usable power», Winter said.

Colonel Eric Felt, the director of the AFRL Space Vehicles Directorate, considers SSPIDR one of his most important programs.

«An operational system like SSPIDR would provide power ‘on demand’ anywhere on the globe regardless of weather or latitude, day or night and without vulnerable logistics lines», Felt said.

The value of space solar power has been internationally recognized as a foundational capability in need of development.

«This technology will enable expanded space capabilities and give us military advantage, as well as provide economic growth and commerce with more sustainable energy sources». Felt said. «We are excited about the possibilities that the conversion of space solar power energy brings to our national defense and the humanitarian and green energy benefits it will offer to the world».

Space Solar Power Incremental Demonstrations and Research Project (SSPIDR)

Ground Forces

Drone Killer

The Air Force Research Laboratory has awarded a contract for Mjölnir, a next-generation counter electronics weapon system, to defend against adversarial drone activity, to Leidos Inc.

Mjölnir
AFRL awards contract for drone killer, Mjölnir; brings new drone «hammer» to the fight

Building upon the success of the Tactical High-Power Operational Responder (THOR) technology demonstrator, Leidos will build an advanced High-Power Microwave (HPM) weapon system to bring the newest technology to bear against the growing threat from unmanned aircraft.

«The new prototype will be called Mjölnir, the mythical Norse God Thor’s mighty hammer», said Adrian Lucero, THOR program manager at AFRL’s Directed Energy Directorate at Kirtland AFB, New Mexico. «Because THOR was so successful, we wanted to keep the new system’s name in the family».

The AFRL team, working from Kirtland Air Force Base, are experts in High Power Electromagnetics technology. The THOR demonstrator used bursts of intense radio waves to disable small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) instantly.

«The lessons learned from our successful overseas operational testing, now define the new requirements for the Mjölnir program, and will be the baseline configuration for future systems to be deployed around the world», Lucero said.

The $26 million Mjolnir prototype, will use the same technology as THOR, but will add important advances in capability, reliability, and manufacturing readiness.

«We are transitioning AFRL technology to our industry partner Leidos, who has the knowledge and capability to build multiple systems in the future», said Lucero. «Mjölnir will focus on creating a detailed blueprint for all future cUAS HPM systems with enhanced range and technology for detecting and tracking UASs. This will ensure the U.S maintains our electromagnetic spectrum superiority».

AFRL is working closely with cross-service partners to field these systems for base defense.

«As the danger from drone swarms evolves, all services are working closely to ensure emerging technologies like Mjölnir, will be ready to support the needs of warfighters already engaged against these threats. The program will begin this spring with a delivery of the prototype weapon in 2023», said 1st Lieutenant Tylar Hanson THOR deputy program manager.

Air, Air Force, Unmanned Systems

Off-Board Sensing Station

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) received a $17.8 million award from the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to design and develop an unmanned Off-Board Sensing Station (OBSS) aircraft. AFRL is developing an open architecture concept Autonomous Collaborative Platform (ACP) to achieve its goals of rapid time-to-market and low acquisition cost, while extending and enhancing the sensing volume of manned platforms.

Off-Board Sensing Station (OBSS)
GA-ASI Awarded OBSS Contract from AFRL

«We’re excited to continue working on this project with AFRL», said Chris Seat, senior vice president of Special Programs for GA-ASI. «Our experience in developing and delivering the most cost-effective and forward-looking UAS solutions puts GA-ASI in a great position to deliver the right ACP to meet our customer’s requirements».

The award covers the next 12 months as the base effort, and if the option is exercised, GA-ASI will spend the following 15 months manufacturing and flight demonstrating the aircraft with the award potentially growing to a total of $49 million.

Ground Forces

Thor’s hammer

The Air Force Research Laboratory’s (AFRL) Directed Energy Directorate is seeking partners to build a new counter electronics weapon system, to defend against the ever increasing threat of adversarial drone activity.

THOR
An artist’s rendering of the Air Force Research Laboratory’s THOR, a drone killer, capable of downing many adversarial drones in fractions of a second. A follow-on system named Mjolnir, the hammer belonging to the mythical Norse God, Thor will soon be under development at AFRL (Courtesy illustration)

Building upon the success of the Tactical High-Power Operational Responder (THOR) technology demonstrator, AFRL is building an advanced High-Power Microwave (HPM) weapon system to bring their newest technology to bear against the growing threat from unmanned aircraft.

«The new prototype will be called Mjolnir, after the mythical Norse god, Thor’s hammer», said Amber Anderson, THOR program manager. «Because THOR was so successful, we wanted to keep the new system’s name in the THOR family».

The AFRL team working from Kirtland Air Force Base are experts in High-Power Electromagnetics technology. The THOR demonstrator used bursts of intense radio waves to disable small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) instantly.

«After a successful 2-year testing campaign, the AFRL team has learned a lot about the benefits of the technology and how it can be improved», Anderson said.

The Mjolnir prototype will use the same technology, but will add important advances in capability, reliability, and manufacturing readiness.

«We are releasing an opportunity for businesses in the directed energy field, to help us build the follow-on system», said Adrian Lucero, THOR deputy program manager. «AFRL’s goal is to create a blueprint for our partners so these systems can be economically produced in large quantities, and to grow a fledgling industry that will become critically important as the U.S. strives to maintain our electromagnetic spectrum superiority».

AFRL is working closely with cross-service partners in the Joint Counter sUAS Office and the Army’s Rapid Capability and Critical Technologies Office.

«As the danger from drone swarms evolves, all services are working closely to ensure emerging technologies like Mjolnir, will be ready to support the needs of warfighters already engaged against these threats. The program will begin this fall with a delivery of the prototype weapon in 2023», said Lucero.

A request for proposal from companies interested in working with AFRL to develop this prototype will be posted on SAM.gov, an official site for companies seeking federal contract opportunities.

Air

Counter-UAS program

As the use of unmanned aircraft systems rises across the world, researchers from around the Defense Department are testing new ways to counter the new threats they could present.

Defenders from the 455th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron and a researcher from the Air Force Research Lab teamed up to bring a new program to Bagram Airfield (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sergeant Benjamin Gonsier)
Defenders from the 455th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron and a researcher from the Air Force Research Lab teamed up to bring a new program to Bagram Airfield (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sergeant Benjamin Gonsier)

The 455th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron (ESFS) teamed up with a researcher from the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to teach Airmen how to pilot drones and use them to train coalition forces on how to react to them on the battlefield.

«This is a brand-new program for the 455th AEW, where we are able to test our counter-UAS systems coming into BAF, in addition to running base-wide exercises», said 1st. Lieutenant Ryan Wilkerson, a researcher attached to the 455th ESFS.

Wilkerson, who is not a defender by trade, is deployed out of the AFRL, Rome Research Site, New York, and came to test the program at Bagram Airfield, where the challenge is present in real-world scenarios.

A few defenders assisted Wilkerson, serving as drone pilots and using their own down time to practice piloting and learn tactics the enemy may use.

«It’s exciting to be able to pilot these aircraft for a program no one has ever been a part of before», said Senior Airman Christopher Gallman, with the 455th ESFS joint defense operations center. «I can’t wait to see where it is going and to be able to help out the total force».

The drone pilots wear aviator sunglasses and have an aura of swagger around them, as they take pride in being at the forefront of tactical development.

«It’s fun and enjoyable, and knowing how beneficial it is to not only the base, but all of the force, makes flying the drone worth doing», Gallman said.

Training never ends, and while service members train to deploy, training still continues while deployed.

«This allows us to be better prepared», Wilkerson said. «The best way to train is to actually put something in the air and see how people react. We train how we fight, so this is the most efficient way to counter this growing concern amongst coalition partners».

Tactics used by the enemy are constantly evolving, which is why Airmen are constantly adapting to face threats head-on, ready to engage anything that comes their way.