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OPINION AUGUST 11, 2023 | The Indian Eye 11

the Shahed-136. Okhotnik’s first
autonomous flight testing, which
included a flight time of around 30
minutes, alongside an Su-57, was
conducted on 27 September 2019.
The Su-57 has been used as a flying
laboratory for testing the Hunter’s
avionics. Unguided bombs were test-
ed in 2021, followed by the test-firing
of Kh59 Mk2 precision guided mu-
nition (PGM) in May 2022. The cur-
rent version of Su-57 is a single-seat
fighter but a twin-seater variant has
been flight-tested with the Hunter
where the co-pilot will be exclusively
responsible for controlling and mon-
itoring the UCAV, with the pilot per-
forming his/her basic functions.
Certain other developments in
this project merit attention. When
operationally ready, each Su-57
will command up to four S-70s. Al-
ready, four Su-57s have been used
to conduct suppression of enemy air
defenses (SEAD) in Ukraine on 9
June 2022. The interesting part was
that all four were “linked to a single
information network to destroy air
defense systems through automatic
communication systems, data trans- Air combat is likely to undergo a major change with the entry of UAVs of all shapes and sizes (File photo)
mission, navigation and identifica-
tion in real-time”. launch and recovery functions. even granting those advantages to pilot can engage air targets, perform
The Okhotnik has also been In India, the Combat Air Team- the AI, the performance has been precision bombing against pin-point
trialed with the Mig-29. In a stand- ing System (CATS) is meant as an nothing short of impressive and her- high value targets and saturate the
alone mode, it may also be deployed umbrella term for a combination alds the future of air combat. battlefield with LMs and convention-
on the still-in-development Project of manned and unmanned assets MUM-T, when implemented al unguided bombs.
23900 Ivan Rogonov helicopter car- which can reduce human casualties, during conventional combat scenar- Air combat is likely to undergo a
riers, each of which has a capacity to perform air-to-air and air-to-ground ios, offers the advantage of com- major change with the entry of UAVs
accommodate 4 S-70s. Russian ana- strikes from a standoff distance and bining the strengths of manned and of all shapes and sizes. Countries
lysts have also dubbed the S-70 the also act as atmospheric satellites for unmanned aircrafts, while comple- which can proactively take advantage
world’s first “outer space” drone. high altitude surveillance. The initial menting each other’s shortfalls. The of this phase of air combat evolution
MANNED–UNMANNED prototypes are being tested on the UCAV can be sent ahead in a dense are likely to have a greater edge over
TEAMING (MUM-T) Jaguar aircraft and will later be fit- air defense (AD) environment to their adversaries.
ted on the Tejas light combat aircraft scout for targets, perform SEAD and As the Okhotnik trials and later
he Okhotnik’s strikes in (LCA) acting as the “mothership”. force the adversary to reveal its sur- operational use shows, the combina-
Ukraine can act as proof of Similar projects are being devel- face to air missile (SAM) sites. This tion of the human mind and compu-
Tconcept for the MUM-T con- oped in the US (collaborative com- data, most of which is computed with- tational strength of microchips, inte-
cept, under development in a num- bat aircraft or CCA), Australia (air in the UCAV using edge processing, grated into a single system, has the
ber of countries including India. teaming system or ATS) and the UK can be sent back to the manned fight- potential to impose on the adversary
MUM-T has been defined differently (Project Tempest). Within the US, a er, already at standoff range, and a major decision dilemma regarding
by different armed forces across the number of parallel programs are in used for conducting air and ground the system to be countered and can
world. While the US Army Aviation progress. The Air Force Research attacks. The UCAV, when equipped act as a combined arms offensive in
Centre (USAACE) defines MUM-T Laboratory (AFRL) is field testing with either air-to-air or air-to-ground the air.
as “synchronized employment of the Skyborg program with the Kra- (AAM/AGM) missiles can also act as
soldier, manned and unmanned air tos’ X-58 Valkyrie. a ‘flying magazine’ for the manned Lt Col Akshat Upadhyay is Research
and ground vehicles, robotics, and The Defense Advanced Re- fighter, increasing the inventory and Fellow, Strategic Technologies Centre at
sensors to achieve enhanced situa- search Projects Agency (DARPA) is range of the aircraft. Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defense
tional understanding, greater lethal- moving ahead with the air combat With the number of unmanned Studies and Analyses, New Delhi
ity, and improved survivability”, the evolution (ACE) program, and in a platforms under the pilot’s control Views expressed are of the author and
North Atlantic Treaty Organization simulation featuring a US Air Force increasing and the unmanned plat- do not necessarily reflect the views of
(NATO)’s standardization agree- (USAF) pilot competing with an AI forms themselves carrying LMs, the Manohar Parrikar IDSA or of the
ment (STANAG) calibrates five lev- pilot under the Alpha Dogfight pro- similar to what is envisaged in the Government of India.
els of interoperability (LOI) between gram, had shown that AI could beat CATS program, the pilot now has
manned and unmanned platforms, human pilots in number of fighter the opportunity to conduct what this This article first appeared in the
with the first being indirect receipt of manoeuvres and targeting actions writer calls “simultaneous multi- Comments section of the website (www.
UAV-related data, going up to level There were obviously some caveats roles” (SMRs) where the capabilities idsa.in) of Manohar Parrikar Institute
five which relates to the control and and one could say that the dice was of the manned fighter will increase for Defense Studies and Analyses, New
monitoring of the UAV along with loaded in favor of the AI. However, manifold. At the same instant, the Delhi on August 1, 2023

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