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The RAAF is experimenting with autonomous aircraft to bolster its logistics capabilities, including conversions of existing light planes.
The Jericho Disruptive Innovation (JDI) team has prototyped JabX, an uncrewed aerial system based on the Jabiru 400 airframe, as part of Project Camel Train to help move cargo more quickly across Australia’s north.
Featuring “robust avionics and an advanced graphical user interface for mission oversight”, JabX, developed with Brisbane firm RFDesign, is being explored as a way to link up remote airfields and coastal bases in what the RAAF calls a “precision delivery network”.
“By taking on routine logistics missions, autonomous aircraft will free up our aviators and crewed platforms for the tasks only people can do – particularly in demanding or contested conditions,” said Deputy Director Disruptive Experimentation Wing Commander Keirin Joyce.
“By automating cargo movement across the north, we strengthen our logistics tail. It ensures dispersed teams – from littoral operators to personnel at remote airbases – remain supported without over-tasking our crewed transport fleet.”
Alongside Project Camel Train, Project Arena is also working to ensure these autonomous aircraft can “navigate crowded or contested airspace as safely as a human pilot”, according to Defence.
“Partnering with Sydney-based company Mission Systems, JDI is developing Boobook-DAA, a compact detect-and-avoid radar,” said Defence.
“Boobook-DAA functions as the aircraft’s ‘eyes’, replicating a pilot’s ability to detect and avoid other airspace users. The radar is designed to detect other aircraft in the sky, day and night, out to at least 7km.
“Together, the technical advances of projects Camel Train and Arena will allow aviators to focus on mission command and complex decision-making, rather than routine tasks.”
The Jabiru 400 is a four-seater kit-built aircraft made by Australian manufacturer Jabiru, now largely superseded by the 430.
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