Aviation360 MEA

Collins Aerospace, a manufacturer of aviation equipment, is conducting flight tests on software that will be used to operate the Air Launched Effects (ALE) concept being developed by the US Army, which includes cooperative teaming between pilots in the air and the unmanned autonomous vehicles.

The army is creating new rotorcraft and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to work with them as part of its Future Vertical Lift (FVL) modernization effort.

The goal of the ALE program is to produce a fully autonomous UAV system that can be launched from the latest army helicopters while they are in flight. Then, ALE vehicles would offer pilots and commanders on the ground reconnaissance and combat intelligence in addition to lethal impacts to fight hostile forces.

”ALE extends tactical and operational reach and lethality of manned assets, allowing them to remain outside of the range of enemy sensors and weapon systems while delivering kinetic and non-kinetic, lethal and non-lethal mission effects against multiple threats, as well as providing battle damage assessment data,” according to the army.

The Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA), which will replace the Bell OH-58 Kiowa scout helicopter that the army deactivated in 2013, is the intended use for the idea.

“ALE is kind of the scout for the scout,” says Dustin Engelhardt, a former army OH-58 pilot who now oversees business development for the ALE team at Collins.

The army chose Collins in 2022 to be the program’s mission systems provider even though the company is not creating the actual ALE vehicle.

To do this, it is necessary to create flight control software that will enable ALE vehicles to fly in a constellation or swarm without the need for remote control. The control system must also permit a practice known as “collaborative teaming,” which enables a chopper pilot to direct UAVs from the cockpit and then get data in return.