The North Dakota Air and Army National Guard recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the University of North Dakota to collaborate on counter-uncrewed aerial systems (C-UAS) and advanced air mobility initiatives.
The MoU has resulted in numerous experiments and exercises being conducted at UND Aerospace’s Gorman Field UAS Test Range and North Dakota National Guard’s Camp Grafton training centre. The joint training exercises with the North Dakota Air and Army National Guard have centred around boosting the armed forces’ C-UAS capabilities and readiness, as well as creating an interactive training environment to improve UND Aerospace’s UAS and C-UAS Operations training curriculum.
The most recent joint exercises/experiments involved integrating air and ground training scenarios, in which UND served as a Red Team (simulated adversary) to the Air Guard and Army Guard units.
During one typical evolution, as the Red-Team – UND Aerospace is using its Boeing Insitu ScanEagle UAS to monitor Army Guard members conducting ground training operations, the Air Guard is actively and simultaneously tracking the ScanEagles (using the General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper) and communicating information to ground personnel.
Meanwhile, UND Aerospace is also using additional small UAS aircraft to encroach on Army command post locations, simulating a variety of scenarios that personnel may encounter from adversaries using uncrewed aircraft.
These scenarios create real-life situations in which the Air and Army Guard can train, evaluate tactics and improve future exercises, project leaders say. In addition, UND faculty, staff and students also gain real-world experience that will prepare students for the many jobs offered in UAS and Counter UAS Operations.
UND Aerospace as also partnered with Detect, Inc., and Vigilant Aerospace to provide additional detect and avoid (DAA) and airspace management capabilities to safely and effectively use the advanced technology and systems called for by these multi-entity scenarios.
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Image: A Boeing Insitu ScanEagle drone dangles from a crane at Camp Grafton. Contributed photo/UND Aerospace.
