Future of naval aviation bright, admiral says in Va. Beach

VIRGINIA BEACH

Lots of armchair admirals like to opine that in the not-too-distant future, the flight deck of an aircraft carrier will be a lonely place, full of small aircraft operating without any humans aboard. They predict that aviators will no longer climb into cockpits; they'll program computers to fly, or pilot aircraft remotely at a desk.

Seven actual admirals from the Navy and Coast Guard offered a different assessment Thursday at an aerospace industry conference in Virginia Beach.

Yes, they said, unmanned aircraft will play a huge role in the second century of naval aviation. But humans will toil in cockpits and on flight decks for decades to come, they told the audience at the Virginia Beach Convention Center.

Rear Adm. David Philman said the future is bright for current Navy fliers, with new versions of multiple airframes now in or about to enter the fleet. There's the E2-D Hawkeye early warning aircraft, the EA-18G Growler electronic warfare aircraft, updated versions of the H-60 SeaHawk helicopter and, waiting in the wings, the so-called "fifth generation" fighter plane, the F-35.

"If you're not flying a new aircraft now, you will be soon," said Philman, the Navy's director for warfare integration at the Pentagon.

A midshipman from the Naval Academy asked the panelists if he and his classmates might end up in command of squadrons that operate joysticks instead of warplanes.

Rear Adm. Bill Shannon assured the officer-to-be that there will be plenty of work to do with human-operated aircraft. As program officer for unmanned aviation and strike weapons, Shannon oversees the development of 15 unmanned platforms. With one exception, he said, none are intended to replace manned aircraft; they are designed to augment existing capabilities. (The exception, he said, is the broad area maritime surveillance program, an unmanned system that will allow the Navy to buy fewer P-8 Poseidons.)

Instead of replacing planes aboard carriers, many unmanned aircraft are now deployed from smaller ships - like the ScanEagle, a drone that's launched and recovered by contractors aboard Navy cruisers and destroyers. The ScanEagles have flown more than 65,000 hours this year, Shannon said.

There are also more helicopters than ever in the Navy.

Rear Adm. Ted Branch, commander of Naval Air Force Atlantic, said that more than half of all Navy aviators fly helicopters.

That's because of the changing algebra of aviation: Unlike the now-retired F-14 Tomcats, most of today's Hornet and Super Hornet fighters are single-seaters, meaning fewer slots for jet pilots and more on an expanding fleet of rotary-wing craft, which have two pilots.

The H-60 SeaHawk is proficient in antisubmarine warfare, which means a bigger presence in carrier strike groups. It's typical for strike groups to now deploy with 17 helicopters, Branch said, more than in the past.

Philman offered some interesting scenarios for how manned and unmanned aircraft might work together. Unmanned planes would excel at flying routine missions - like eight-hour flights over familiar territory.

"I'll let the uninhabited aircraft do long, boring missions," Philman said. "I'll sit back on the carrier."

Another possibility - a human pilot in a jet flies a mission accompanied by three unmanned "wingmen." The human, he said, will understand the rules of engagement "so we're not killing the wrong people."

Shannon envisions that some functions in manned planes could be managed autonomously, such as mid-air refueling. It takes a delicate hand and excellent eye-hand coordination to sync a plane's fuel probe with the refueling basket stretched out behind a tanker. Figuring out a way to refuel a plane without the pilot having to touch the stick would offer great relief, Shannon said, especially after a long mission.

For now, aircraft carriers - which many people consider the heart of naval aviation - don't deploy unmanned aircraft.

But that is forecast to change by 2018, the date set by the chief of naval operations for unmanned craft to fly surveillance and strike missions from carriers.

Branch can't yet envision how uninhabited aircraft will fit into the tightly-choreographed, manpower-heavy operations of a flight deck.

"It's an ambitious target," Branch said. "We don't even know what that looks like, yet."

Kate Wiltrout, (757) 446-2629, kate.wiltrout@pilotonline.com