LandX22 – Experimentation with uncrewed systems in a future combat unit

LandX22 was a collaborative experiment and collaboration between Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI), Combat Lab, Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace (KDA) and Teleplan. From FFI, four projects participated. The goals of the experiment was to test and demonstrate how uncrewed systems, both autonomous and remote controlled, can be used in a conceptual Future Combat Unit (FCU) to combat an attacking mechanized enemy force. The experiment and demonstration took place between September 26th to September 30th, the integration week, and between October 17th and October 20th, where the last day was the visitor’s day and demonstration. The experiment included many different systems developed at FFI. Two Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) systems, one for testing autonomy and the other for testing manned-unmanned teaming, and two Unmanned Areal Vehicle (UAV) systems; swarm and interceptor UAVs. Swarm UAVs demonstrated increased situational awareness needing only a single operator controlling four UAVs, and the Interceptor UAV successfully took down a target UAV. The Manned unmanned teaming (MUM-T) experiment was also successful, enabling a single operator to operate the UGV and Remote Weapon Station (RWS) from a single Operator Control Unit (OCU) to combat enemy forces. The experiment also showed that improving the operators situational awareness is needed, as the experimental camera setup used had some shortcomings. The UGV autonomy experiment was partly successful, as the UGV Tor had autonomy-sensor hardware issues, and had at times troubles with the autonomous driving. The scouting activity using an elevated surveillance sensor on the other hand was a success, enabling other forces to combat the identified enemy forces. Combat Lab’s primary purpose during LandX, providing FFI with a live video feed from an elevated tethered drone directly integrated in to the mission network, was successfully delivered. The secondary purpose, endurance experiments with tethered drones, gave insights in to the capabilities of the tested system and was successfully conducted. Teleplan distributed video, own position and field of view from the different systems used during the demonstration on the mission network. Teleplan also demonstrated the capabilities of Teleplan Tactical Media Suite for the video feeds, and demonstrated that new systems/technologies can be integrated and collaborate with existing systems, such as CV9030N and drones.