テクノバーン大誤報

テクノバーンが、大誤報をやらかしました。なんと、意味を正反対にしてしまっています。それがこれ。

英国防省、有人戦闘機の無人飛行実験に成功 (注 : 現在は 404)

【テクノバーン 2007/4/3 16:35】英防衛省が有人戦闘機の無人飛行に成功していたことが 2 日、英 BBC などの報道により明らかとなった。
英防衛省は既に昨年、改造を施した一般旅客機を使った無人飛行に成功。しかし、操縦がより難しい有人戦闘機を無人化させて飛行させることはこれまで成功してこなかった。
今回、英防衛省が無人飛行の実験に用いられたのはトーネードという戦闘機。機体の改造は英防衛省の技術開発部門が民営化したクインティック (Qinetiq) 社が担当。改造を施されたトーネード戦闘機は 3 月 30 日、国内外のマスコミ関係者を乗せた旅客機と共にイギリス国内にあるボスカンブ・ダウン空軍基地を離陸。その後、上空で無人飛行に移行して 1 人のパイロットによって複数の無人戦闘機の編隊飛行などが行われた。 (以下略)
(↑の部分のウェブ魚拓)

さて。一見したところではまともな記事に見えますが、これのどこが大誤報なのか。元ネタを洗ってみましょう。

Defense-Aerospace.com に、これと同じことを指していると思われる、英国防省と QinetiQ のリリースが載っていました。タイトルは、"Pilot-less Passenger Jet Flown Remotely by RAF In World First" (MoD) と、"World First as Fast Jet Pilot Directs Multiple Unmanned Aircraft" (QinetiQ)。

まず、MoD のリリースにつけられたタイトルを見ただけで、変だと思わないといけません。これではどう見ても「空軍の戦闘機が旅客機を遠隔操縦した」という意味になります。それぐらいは、中学生だって分かります。QinetiQ のリリースにしても、Fast Jet、つまり戦闘機のパイロットが複数の無人機に指令を出した、という意味にしかとれません。

そこで、元のリリースを以下に全文引用します。まず MoD。(太字筆者)

A glimpse into the future of how the RAF might attack a number of air and ground targets with multiple unmanned aircraft, but with a single pilot in charge, has been demonstrated over the West Country.

A passenger jet simulating a pilotless combat aircraft was flown from RAF Boscombe Down to an area of the Bristol Channel target area by its normal crew – who then "handed over" control to the pilot of a nearby RAF Tornado fighter via data links from his cockpit.

Once at operating height the crew of the passenger jet - a standard BAC 1-11 but with seats replaced by three autonomous sets of hi-tech Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle simulators - relaxed as the Tornado pilot took over the controls and instructed the commercial jet and its three virtual equivalents to proceed towards the targets.

The BAC 1-11 is a technology demonstrator - or surrogate UAV - providing a platform to test the operation of an unmanned aircraft from the cockpit of a single frontline jet.

The system was developed by QinetiQ, formerly the Government's Defence Evaluation and Research Agency, with funding from the MOD. While only one aircraft was physically being flown, it had banks of duplicated equipment to mimic three further UAVs, all of which were successfully flown onto targets during the demonstration.

The crew of the BAC 1-11 was retained for safety, but once cleared after the take-off the aircraft was handed over to the control of Tornado pilot Squadron Leader Andy Blythe, of RAF Boscombe Down's Fast Jet Test Squadron, who was flying close by.

The Tornado and four UAVs carried out simulated ground attacks on moving targets driving autonomously across Exmoor. The sophisticated computer on the UAVs allowed them to communicate and sense their environment, including locating possible enemies and target their weapons themselves. The final decision whether to fire was retained by the Tornado pilot.

Squadron Leader Andy Blythe said:

"The trial was a complete success. The BAC 1-11 took off first and and I caught up with it 30 minutes later. I took over and operated the jet at between 14,000 and 20,000ft. I found the UAVs easy to control. First I directed them to do a sweep over the battlefield to identify vehicles and send back their images to me in the cockpit. Once I had classified the targets in order of priority, and got the UAVs to make a second sweep to check for friendlies, I gave consent for the UAVs to destroy the targets, which they did and then made a final sweep for battle damage assessment."

The Tornado - an F2 air defence variant – is known as TIARA (Tornado Integrated Avionics Research Aircraft). In customising the aircraft for UAV trials, standard cockpit instrumentation was replaced by a number of interactive moving map screens to allow operation of the notional pilotless aircraft.

The advantages of the demonstrator aircraft include not being confined to segregated test ranges and enabling software refinements to take place in the air as they are needed, rather than having a dedicated facility on the ground. Central to the project is the reduction of workload on the pilot.

Squadron Leader Rich Wells, of MOD's Defence Equipment Capability (DEC) Deep Target Attack branch, explained:

"The RAF is keen to explore the potential of extending the capability of our fast jet aircraft through the use of multiple supporting UAVs. The latest achievement by QinetiQ represents a significant advance to this end.

"The use of UAVs has the potential to deliver a wide range of benefits both for the management of air battle space, force multiplication and safety. In particular it can perform missions that are dangerous, dirty or dull that are currently carried out by manned aircraft.

"UAVs provide air forces with increased capability, greater flexibility and agility. But the human control will always be pivotal and ever-present. The image of a 'Terminator' with a mind of its own will never happen. UAVs can be controlled from the ground, but directing a number of UAVs from a manned aircraft close to the battle space could offer significant military advantages."

QinetiQ's Air Division Managing Director, Tony Wall, added:

"We are delighted with the success achieved at Boscombe Down – it represents an important step in proving that complex autonomy technologies are ready to move from a simulated world to realistic flight conditions. A system that allows a single pilot to fly his or her own aircraft while simultaneously controlling a package of UAVs is a true world first. We hope it will be coming into service around 2020, possibly on Typhoon."

The latest trials will feed into two further UAV areas - Project TARANIS, an MOD initiative to develop an autonomous full size unmanned combat aircraft which should fly by 2010, and a system for commercial applications that can assist in areas such as search and rescue, disaster relief and environmental monitoring.

どうやら、QinetiQ が「BAC1-11 に無人戦闘用機 (UCAV) をシミュレートする機器を積み込んで飛ばし、それをトーネードから遠隔操縦した」ようです。そこで QinetiQ のリリースも見てみましょう。

A system which provides a single pilot with the ability to fly their own aircraft while simultaneously directing up to four further unmanned aircraft has been successfully demonstrated from the cockpit of a military fast jet for the first time.

The system, developed by QinetiQ and funded by the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD), gives unmanned aircraft an advanced level of independence and intelligence, or autonomy.

A series of successful flight trials were flown using a Tornado as the command and control aircraft and a BAC 1-11 trials aircraft acting as a "surrogate" unmanned air vehicle (UAV). The Tornado pilot also had responsibility for commanding a further three simulated UAVs.

The demonstration flights were conducted last week, taking off from MOD Boscombe Down in Wiltshire and flying largely in uncontrolled airspace over South West England. Throughout the sorties a mixed RAF and QinetiQ flight crew was retained on the 1-11 for safety monitoring and control during takeoff and landing. QinetiQ's Tornado Integrated Avionics Research Aircraft (TIARA), flown by an RAF test pilot, then assumed control of the 1-11 surrogate UAV and three simulated UAVs for the middle section of each flight.

Working in combination, the Tornado and four UAVs carried out a simulated ground attack on a moving target. The sophisticated computer on the UAVs allowed them to act autonomously i.e. self-organise, communicate, sense their environment, including possible enemies, and target their weapons. However, the final decision to fire any (simulated) weapons was retained by the Tornado pilot. The system has been designed to provide the UAVs with a significant degree of independent intelligence in order to greatly reduce the workload of the pilot but also ensures that the most important decisions are retained by a human operator.

Tony Wall, Managing Director of QinetiQ's Air Division, said: "The UK is playing a leading role in the development of UAV technology and this autonomy programme is truly world-leading. Working closely with our MOD customers and RAF partners, we are delighted with the successes achieved at Boscombe Down last week. There remains a great deal of work to be done before a system like this could be considered for operations but the trials represent an important step in proving that complex autonomy technologies are ready to move from a simulated world to realistic flight conditions."

Before flights began the entire UAV system was thoroughly tested in a QinetiQ simulation environment at Bedford. This enabled the flight crew and trials team to rehearse the first real sortie 'flying' from a 'virtual' Boscombe Down using all the software and hardware that was installed in the Tornado and the UAVs. This approach has realised significant cost savings through the reduction in flying hours and associated support costs.

The UAV autonomy technology developed for these trials is feeding into two further government-backed programmes. QinetiQ is playing a leading role in the Taranis project, a £124 million joint industry and MOD initiative to develop an autonomous unmanned combat aircraft.

QinetiQ's technology is also supporting the £32 million ASTRAEA project, a joint industry and DTI initiative to explore the technical and regulatory challenges of using UAVs for civil and commercial applications. The ability to direct multiple autonomous unmanned aircraft could deliver benefit in a range of civil scenarios, including coastguard search and rescue, disaster relief operations or during environmental monitoring.

こちらも意味は同じです (当たり前だ)。

つまり、正解はこうです。
QinetiQ が、BAC1-11 を魔改造して、UCAV をシミュレートする機器を 3 基、積み込みました。そして、その BAC1-11 が離陸した後、近くを一緒に飛行した英空軍のトーネード戦闘機から、無線リンクを通じて BAC1-11 と同機が搭載する 3 基の UCAV シミュレータを遠隔操作して、空対地攻撃のシミュレーションをやったんです。

従来ですと、UAV を遠隔操縦するには一人が 1 機ずつを管制していたので、飛行する UAV の数だけの管制要員が必要になったのですが、今回の実験では一人で 4 機を同時に管制するデモを行ったというわけです。なかなか画期的な大ニュースですが、それをまるで正反対の意味にされてしまったのでは、英空軍も QinetiQ もたまったもんじゃありません。

自分が同じような大誤報をやらないように、気をつけないといけませんねぇ…