New trainer addresses manned-unmanned training needs

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama – Army helicopter pilots will soon be able to train virtually anywhere, at any time, thanks to a new training device demonstrated last week at UAH. Team members with the AH-64D Apache Longbow Block III program gave a demonstration Thursday of the Apache Block III National Airspace trainer (AB3NAT). Designed to act as a “surrogate trainer” for manned to unmanned teaming, or MUM-T in Army parlance, the new trainer will be able to receive full motion video from an unmanned aircraft system, or UAS. That may not sound like much, but it answers a critical training need faced by Army aviation. Federal Aviation Administration rules bar UAS from flying over nearly all of the U.S. Block III officials say the piloted AB3NAT solves that problem while providing realism needed to make training useful to pilots. Increasingly important in helicopter training, MUM-T provides the ability for manned platforms such as Apache and Kiowa to receive Full Motion Video from Unmanned Aircraft systems. The AB3NAT will allow the crew of an Apache, or other Army helicopter, to receive and process real-time video imaging surveillance from a UAS operating in theater, such as in Afghanistan. It also allows control of other […]
New trainer addresses manned-unmanned training needs