Airbus Helicopters and its five European partners have demonstrated a manned–unmanned teaming, or MUM-T, system between helicopters and drones.
The 10-day demo in France and Italy, which concluded on Sept. 9, was led by Airbus as part of a European Union-funded project called Musher that seeks to develop a MUM-T system that can deliver maximum capacity while minimizing the crew’s workload in civil, military, or mixed European operations.
Airbus said that as test leader, it deployed its H130 FlightLab as a manned platform and the VSR700 unmanned aerial system. A helicopter and an optionally piloted aircraft from Italian defense company Leonardo performed the test demos, which included anti-piracy and surveillance mission scenarios.
Thales, Musher project coordinator, provided the supervision and mission debriefing stations while Space Applications Services took charge of the mission preparation station. Spanish technology company Indra performed simulations to prepare for the tests, and the French national aerospace research center ONERA contributed to crew workload studies.
Bruno Even, CEO of Airbus Helicopters, said helicopters and drones operating in concert add to mission capabilities such as real-time video-sharing, boosting situational awareness for better field decisions while conserving vital resources.
“The success of the Musher demonstration is a major step forward for our ambition at Airbus, which is to field MUM-T capabilities by bringing European industrial know-how together for the benefit of military and civil customers,” he added.
The Musher project is being implemented through the European Defence Industrial Development Programme launched in December 2021.