Apache receives real-time video from UAV - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Apache receives real-time video from UAV

The Army successfully beamed video from unmanned aerial vehicles to an Apache AH-64 Block III attack helicopter in a demonstration, service officials said.

In recent tests at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, an Apache pilot in flight watched video beamed from a UAV that was 75 kilometers away. The UAV was the Future Combat Systems Class I Micro Air Vehicle, a small 50-pound, 3-foot UAV being developed for the Army’s Future Combat Systems.

The test checked the software, logistics and communications systems.

The video demonstration was part of a broader effort called FCS 1.1, which includes experiments with high bandwidth networking with vehicles, helicopters and UAVs. Today, the AH-64D has the ability to digitally send target information to ground vehicles; the idea with FCS 1.1 is to demonstrate how an Apache could share information with all sorts of forces.

The signal travels from the MAV to a ground station where it is beamed, encrypted, to the chopper in near real-time, program officials said. The AH-64 Block III’s mission computer, Manned/Unmanned Common Architecture Program, “has five times the processing power of what is on the AH/64D model,” said Larry Plaster, Boeing’s manager of Apache modernization.

Although it’s only in a demonstration phase at the moment, the capabilities could give pilots a greater understanding of surrounding threats. Col. Derek Paquette, project manager for the Apache said, “any time you can get situational awareness before you arrive on the scene, you are in a better position to win the battle. The whole key is information dominance.”

A VIP demonstration is planned for the first week of February at White Sands, where Apaches and other aircraft will receive video from nearby UAVs.