Boeing Australia and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) have improved the operational readiness of airpower combined system aircraft, successfully demonstrating multiple payloads, semi-autonomous behaviors and unmanned combinations in a digital environment.
In a multi-day exercise extending similar activities, the Royal Australian Air Force operators worked with digital twins to develop and test autonomous behavior in operational scenarios and defenses against threats provided.
“We are working closely with Boeing Australia to integrate advanced payloads and operational requirements to ensure that the combined air power system’s capabilities are mission-ready to support air combat operations,” said Robert, Head of Air Force Capabilities and Deputy Air Force Marshal, Royal Australian Air Force. Danny said. “The most advanced digital twin concept allows us to evaluate and integrate intelligent human-machine collaboration systems in our force structure.”
Tests include verification of the integrated aircraft integration and payloads operating with the national defense manned platform, as well as the effectiveness of the distributed sensors in the unmanned team of the entire airpower combined system. The test scenario involves multiple aircraft operating in a threat environment, coordinating mission objectives with manned aircraft operated by RAAF personnel, and developing manned-unmanned interfaces in early activities.
This work also contributes to the development of Boeing’s airpower combined system for global customers.
“Our digital engineering expertise allows us to accelerate the product lifecycle development of Airpower Teaming System from aircraft design to production,” said Brad Thompson, Chief Capability Architect of Airpower Teaming System. “Creating a digital environment also allows us to test the mission system code in a realistic operating environment, so we can quickly iterate our manned/unmanned team concept and payload implementation to respond to the threat environment.”
“Using the digital twin approach can provide flexible and cost-effective testing procedures to keep up with the pace of the future battlefield, and we are moving towards initial combat capabilities.”
The development of the mission system and payload development of the airpower combined system includes ground-based hardware and software-in-the-loop testing, followed by alternate flight testing of the airborne system to support the verification of the digital model.
“We are very pleased to be able to test the elements of the payload against targets with appropriate spectral representation in field trials,” Thompson said. “This allows us to quickly integrate the lessons learned into our digital environment to accelerate the development of operational capabilities.”
The entire aircraft’s digital twin has been “flying” thousands of times under different battlefield effects to test the aircraft’s performance and maximize its independence and support for the deployment of other aircraft.
Boeing will continue to advance payload development and flight testing in accordance with the development plan.
For more information about Boeing’s Air Power Integrated System, please visit https://www.boeing.com/defense/airpower-teaming-system/.
