Autonomous Platform Mission Capabilities

Happy Sunday!

Welcome to the first edition of the Autonomous Platforms of the Future Newsletter, designed to inform you about future game changing products, technologies, and platforms. The main goal of this newsletter is to spotlight autonomous platforms in the Air, Sea, and Space domains.

Over my 12+ year career, I’ve had the opportunity to work on and lead some of these major autonomous platforms for Fortune 100 companies. My domain expertise has been in the Aerospace & Defense industry across Jet Engines, Helicopters, Aircraft parts, Military platforms, and Autonomous development programs. My mission has always been to be a leader that creates and develops autonomous vehicles for space, military, and commercial use.

So enough about me, let’s jump into this week’s topic which is Autonomous Platform Mission capabilities.

Below are a few of the key mission capabilities that Autonomous Platforms can accomplish:

Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) - Provides the foundation for all military operations, and its principles have been used in warfare for centuries. Intelligence is the final product derived from surveillance and reconnaissance. Surveillance is the persistent monitoring of a target. Reconnaissance is the information gathering conducted to answer a specific military question.

Decoy - A deceptive device used to draw an enemy away from a more important target.

Strike - The ability to dynamically react to a changing threat environment during an air-to-ground strike mission while automatically managing contingencies for capability failures, route deviations, and loss of communication

Counterair - Counterair operations allow aircraft assets the freedom to maneuver, freedom to attack, and freedom from enemy attack. Two types exist (defensive and offensive counter air) for military operations. Offensive counterair attack the enemy operations (missile sites, infrastructure, airfields, etc.), escort fighters, and suppress enemy air defenses. Defensive Counterair provide both active and passive air and missile defense.

Detect and Avoid (DAA) - A platform’s ability to sense and avoid other aircraft and obstacles autonomously. These systems use sensors, such as radar, acoustic, and visual, to detect and avoid obstacles in the airspace.

Environmental Surveillance - Autonomous platforms will play a major part in exploring and mapping previously areas not discovered around the globe across air, land, sea and space. This will be extremely important as more questions arise regarding the climate and climate mitigation questions.

Urban Air Mobility (UAM) - The development of technologies and analysis methods for small (four to six passenger) electrically powered aircraft for urban use. UAM envisions a safe and efficient air transportation system where air taxis and air ambulances operate alongside small-package delivery drones above populated areas.

Hope this increased your knowledge on some of the capabilities Autonomous platforms are bringing the world. Thanks for joining me this week.

Be on the lookout for my next newsletter.

Have a wonderful closeout to your weekend and let’s start the next week strong.

Rob Wesley