Agile manufacture and distribution of the Field Adaptable Supply Technology (FAST) swarming system

The US Navy is in a continual process of incorporating unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) into operations for battlespace awareness, offensive air support, target acquisition, and force protection, facilitating advancements in observation, understanding, and influence on the battlefield.  UAS missions include forward presence, security cooperation, counterterrorism, crisis response, forcible entry, prolonged operations, and counterinsurgency. Four UAS themes have been outlined by the Department of Defense for seamless integration:  Interoperability, Autonomy, Network Security and Human-Machine Collaboration.  Empirical System Aerospace (ESAero) is focusing on the crisis response mission and the themes of autonomy and Human-Machine Collaboration. ESAero proposes to develop and demonstrate a functional prototype UAS capable of agile on-demand manufacturing and rapid, distributed, deployment capable of supporting multiple payloads dependent upon the situation. Agile manufacturing of a UAS requires simplicity in design, innovation in technology, methods, manufacturing processes and supply chain selection and a deep understanding of UAS operational reliability. The proposed UAS concept maximizes manufacturability and reliability by utilizing a low cost design while leveraging modern flight control techniques to handle high system variability further reducing manufacturing quality requirements while expanding the mission capabilities. ESAero refers to this new UAS as the Field Adaptable Supply Technology (FAST) swarming system. An existing UAS designed and built by ESAero (TRL 4-5) will be the basis for this proposed SBIR effort.  The system is composed of inexpensive, readily available, Commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) components sourced from different suppliers to demonstrate the adaptability of the design. ESAero’s proposed design includes seven key innovation areas: 1)Distributed/On Demand Deployment, Domestic Manufacturing 2)Rapid Response 3)Reduced Logistical Burdens 4)Surge Capability 5)Supply Chain Management 6)Multiple Payload Support 7)Agile, On-Demand Fabrication.