Gauntlet 2 was the Drone Dominance Program’s most demanding test to date. Operators pushed participants to their limits, flying 1,858 sorties across 23 platforms from 19 companies.
“While the operations teams were focused on performance, the safety team was focused on mitigations we could see during the tests,”
said Kira Thomas, AMCOM Safety’s software system safety lead. Engineers observed communication between operators, radio-frequency links and mission displays during long-range strike missions. In buildings and tunnels, they assessed navigation, obstacle avoidance, operator workload and video-feed reliability.
At the live-payload test lane, known as the Kinetic Lane, the team reviewed payload preparation, installation, aircraft handling and controls intended to prevent unintended detonation or missed targets.
“To be successful in the mission, you need both the drone to be successful in delivering the payload and the payload to be performing its role,”
said Dr. Laurence Mutuel, acting director of AMCOM’s Safety Office.
To keep pace with the program, the team used an iterative review process. Engineers developed initial hazard analyses using available information, identified gaps and refined their assessments as vendors provided more data and the team observed systems in use.
Gauntlet 2 was a major milestone, but it was not the end of the safety effort. After the Army identifies systems for large-scale production, the joint Army-Navy safety team will address assessment gaps, gather additional test data and develop safety cases for joint-board review and risk decisions at the appropriate level.
Mutuel said AMCOM’s aviation background helps ensure speed does not displace engineering rigor by identifying efficiencies that accelerate fielding without compromising safety.
“It’s through that in-depth knowledge that efficiencies will be identified that will not compromise safety,” she said.
Performance evaluations are under way, with orders and scoreboard announcements coming soon.
Sources: DOW; U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command