Australia is rapidly emerging as a global leader in autonomous hypersonic weapons development through the SMART program and international partnerships like AUKUS and SCIFiRE. Collaborating with BoeingThe Boeing Company: A global aerospace leader and one of the world’s largest defense contractors, specializing in the design and manufacture of milita... More and the US, Australia is testing advanced hypersonic cruise missiles capable of Mach 5+ speeds, AI-driven autonomy, and precision strike capabilities — positioning the Royal Australian Air Force to field cutting-edge, sovereign hypersonic weapons by the early 2030s.
Smart and Fast – Autonomous systems and hypersonic weapons
by Gregor Ferguson
The current conflicts in Ukraine, Gaza and the Red Sea have opened the West’s eyes to several features of a future war. Among them: the widespread use of autonomous systems – Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAVs) – and the emergence of hypersonic missiles. By one estimate, the Ukraine is believed to be losing 10,000 UAVs each month, so these systems have become ubiquitous very quickly.
UAVUnmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV):A military aircraft capable of flight without an onboard human pilot, operated either through remote control by a ground... More operators have a crucial advantage: the cost of shooting down a drone can be disproportionate but is unavoidable because of the immense physical and moral damage such a cheap weapon can inflict. Some of them succeed by sheer weight of numbers, while others use an autonomous control system to make them ‘smarter’ and so harder to shoot down.
Trusted autonomy is one of the ADF’s six key priorities following the 2023 Defence Strategic Review (DSR). But until Defence publishes its new Integrated Investment Plan and National Defence Strategy later in 2024, we shan’t know how the three services are internalising these lessons.
However, Defence’s new Australian Strategic Capabilities Accelerator (ASCA) in August 2023 issued a Request for Information (RFI) from sovereign Australian Uncrewed Aerial System (UASUnmanned Aircraft System (UAS): A comprehensive term used in military and regulatory contexts to describe the entire integrated ecosystem required to ... More) and trusted autonomy industry players. ASCA is looking for manufacturers of small, general-purpose and reconnaissance UASs that can be produced at scale. In early 2024 Defence selected eleven Australian UASUnmanned Aircraft System (UAS): A comprehensive term used in military and regulatory contexts to describe the entire integrated ecosystem required to ... More manufacturers for an Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) trial and demonstration program in April. However, it didn’t say whether, still less when, a selected manufacturer would be named.
The eleven contenders are: AMSL Aero, Autonomous Technology, Bask Aerospace, Boresight, Crystalaid Manufacture, DefendTex Military Products, Edinburgh Drone Company, Geodrones Australia, Ichor Autonomy, SYPAQ Systems and V-TOL Aerospace.
Ironically, a number of Australian companies have built a global reputation for their products despite making only small sales to the ADF. Melbourne-based SYPAQ manufactures the celebrated Corvo Precision Payload Delivery System, a remarkably cheap, disposable UAVUnmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV):A military aircraft capable of flight without an onboard human pilot, operated either through remote control by a ground... More with a 120km range and made – literally – from folded cardboard. This UAVUnmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV):A military aircraft capable of flight without an onboard human pilot, operated either through remote control by a ground... More, developed under a Defence Innovation Hub contract, has been used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces for both ISR and direct attack. The company has delivered more than 500 UAVs to Ukraine.
Melbourne-based DefendTex has even developed a family of UAVs that can be fired from a 40mm grenade launcher and can carry an explosive or ISR payload. They were used in Mali by the British Army in 2022 and have also been delivered to Ukraine. Also cheap are the man-packable tactical assault drones built by Queensland company Skyborne Technologies which can attack targets using the company’s own sovereign 5-round 40mm grenade launcher.
A UAVUnmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV):A military aircraft capable of flight without an onboard human pilot, operated either through remote control by a ground... More can be robotic or remotely piloted. It relies on a human to control it, to some degree, so needs a permanent wireless link for command and control and to transmit any ISR ‘product’. Or it can be autonomous – it simply gets told what to do (and not to do) and is then left alone to work out for itself how to get on with it. If it needs a wireless link it can establish one quickly, even by satellite, to transmit ISR product or to get human permission to release weapons.
A UAVUnmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV):A military aircraft capable of flight without an onboard human pilot, operated either through remote control by a ground... More can operate anywhere along this spectrum though the greater the level of autonomy, the more complex and expensive the UAVUnmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV):A military aircraft capable of flight without an onboard human pilot, operated either through remote control by a ground... More is. Ground Control Stations (GCS) can be as simple as a smart phone or tablet, or a trailer containing pilot and payload operator positions.
A Man-In-The-LoopMan-In-The-Loop (MITL): A model of automation where a human operator is a mandatory and active participant in the decision-making sequence. In this fr... More, or MITLMan-In-The-Loop (MITL): A model of automation where a human operator is a mandatory and active participant in the decision-making sequence. In this fr... More, control system usually means there is constant human control, of the unmanned system so it isn’t truly autonomous. Man On The Loop, MOTLMan-On-The-Loop (MOTL): A supervisory model of automation where an autonomous system is capable of executing complex tasks independently, while a huma... More, usually means there is human intervention only to authorise release of weapons or when specific problems arise, meaning much higher autonomy.
Smaller but smarter
Unmanned systems and their payloads are getting smaller and smarter: more than a decade ago, the Australian Army acquired the 170kg Textron RQ-7 Shadow 200 UAVUnmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV):A military aircraft capable of flight without an onboard human pilot, operated either through remote control by a ground... More for tactical intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance, or ISR. This is now being replaced by the Insitu RQ-21 Integrator which weighs just 61kg. And satellite dishes are now compact enough to go on such a small aircraft so eventually it will be able to operate 500nm away using a satellite link for control and communications. The difference this will make to both ISR and targeting capability is immense.
A ‘Loyal Wingman’-type UAVUnmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV):A military aircraft capable of flight without an onboard human pilot, operated either through remote control by a ground... More such as Boeing’s MQ-28A Ghost Bat, which the company has developed in Australia with Defence and company money and is now testing in the USA, is more complex. It’s a single-engine, semi-stealthy aircraft with fighter-like subsonic performance and a range of about 2,000nm and is designed to augment crewed aircraft and conduct ISR, strike or anti-air missions independently. It uses Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (or AI/ML) to function autonomously.
The Ghost Bat’s autonomous Vehicle Management System (VMS) is designed and manufactured in Melbourne by BAE SystemsA British multinational defense, security, and aerospace company headquartered in London and one of the world's largest defense contractors. Formed in... More Australia. The company is now a global expert on VMSs and on Robotics and Autonomous Systems more generally.
BAE SystemsA British multinational defense, security, and aerospace company headquartered in London and one of the world's largest defense contractors. Formed in... More Australia has used this expertise to develop the STRIX, a VTOLVTOL (Vertical Takeoff and Landing) – An aircraft classification describing fixed-wing aircraft or rotorcraft capable of taking off, hovering, and lan... More UAVUnmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV):A military aircraft capable of flight without an onboard human pilot, operated either through remote control by a ground... More designed to carry an ISR or kinetic payload of 160kg over 800km and which could be in service as early as 2026. Perth-based aeronautical engineers Innovaero designed the air vehicle itself. The relationship has been so successful that BAE SystemsA British multinational defense, security, and aerospace company headquartered in London and one of the world's largest defense contractors. Formed in... More Australia is now a shareholder in Innovaero .
Innovaero is also developing the OWL Loitering munition and the Fox tactical VTOLVTOL (Vertical Takeoff and Landing) – An aircraft classification describing fixed-wing aircraft or rotorcraft capable of taking off, hovering, and lan... More UASUnmanned Aircraft System (UAS): A comprehensive term used in military and regulatory contexts to describe the entire integrated ecosystem required to ... More and is working with BoeingThe Boeing Company: A global aerospace leader and one of the world’s largest defense contractors, specializing in the design and manufacture of milita... More subsidiary Insitu on development of a joint Integrator/OWL capability based on a common Ground Control Station and rail launcher. The Integrator is launched first to find the target and then the OWL is launched to hit it; the Integrator does the post-strike recce.
The ADF – principally the Australian Army – also plans to buy a Small Uncrewed Aerial SystemSmall Uncrewed Aerial System (SUAS): A category of unmanned aviation defined by the physical size and operational weight of the aircraft, typically en... More (SUASSmall Uncrewed Aerial System (SUAS): A category of unmanned aviation defined by the physical size and operational weight of the aircraft, typically en... More) to replace its existing AeroVironment Wasp III SUASSmall Uncrewed Aerial System (SUAS): A category of unmanned aviation defined by the physical size and operational weight of the aircraft, typically en... More. This is a man-packable UAVUnmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV):A military aircraft capable of flight without an onboard human pilot, operated either through remote control by a ground... More and so is very light – 6.5kg – and considered expendable.
These snapshots show four things: UAVs and payloads are getting smaller and lighter; the number of applications for UAVs is growing exponentially; autonomy is becoming ubiquitous; and troops need training in both the use of and counters to UAVs.
On the anti-UAV side, Sydney-based DroneShield builds jammers to attack the electronic control signals – typically, mobile phone or GPSGPS (Global Positioning System): A satellite-based navigation system that provides precise location, velocity, and timing information to military airc... More signals – on which UAVs usually depend. DroneShield is active in the Ukraine and elsewhere around the world and, not surprisingly, doesn’t talk much about its client base.
Canberra-based Electro Optic Systems has two anti-UAV technologies. The Slinger, uses a sensor suite to detect UAVs and an M230 30mm gun to destroy them. The Titanis counter-UAV system uses a High Energy Laser to disable UAVs – from pocket-size to MQ-4C Triton-size – up to 4km away and also to neutralise UAVUnmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV):A military aircraft capable of flight without an onboard human pilot, operated either through remote control by a ground... More sensors at extended ranges. The company uses a very cheap drone designed and manufactured by Canberra-based Boresight Pty Limited specifically for development and training.
And early in 2024 Defence selected its first-ever laser-based counter-drone system: Melbourne-based AIM Defence’s Fractl:2 Directed Energy (DE) System, which should be with the ADF by mid-2024.
Ethics
The Trusted Autonomous Systems Defence CRC in Brisbane has been working since 2018 on both the technology and ethics of autonomy as well as on compliance with the Laws of Armed Conflict and Rules of Engagement (ROE). It aims to solve machine cognition problems so the ADF can achieve its “smart, small, many” vision.
Working with Skyborne Technologies and fellow-Australian firm Cyborg Dynamics Engineering, along with the University of Queensland, it developed Athena AI as an autonomous detection/classification capability for ground, air and maritime vehicles to support lawful targeting.
Athena AI has since been selected by three undisclosed American companies supplying UAVs, Unmanned Ground Vehicles and Battlefield Management systems to the Pentagon.
The TAS DCRC was also involved in the early stages of the MQ-28A Ghost Shark program, helping BoeingThe Boeing Company: A global aerospace leader and one of the world’s largest defense contractors, specializing in the design and manufacture of milita... More master multi-platform teaming and enabling autonomous aircraft to detect and classify ground targets.
Hypersonics
Australia is a global leader in hypersonic technology. The University of Queensland, which launched the world’s first hypersonic air vehicle in 2002, leads the charge. The Defence Science & Technology Group (or DSTG) has established a Hypersonics Research Facility at the university’s Eagle Farm facility in Queensland. Much of Australia’s current work on the bilateral US-Australia Southern Cross Integrated Flight Research Experiment, or SCIFiRE program, is being done there.
The partners jointly developed what became the Mach 5+ Hypersonic Attack Cruise MissileHypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (HACM): An air-launched, scramjet-powered weapon system designed to strike high-value, time-sensitive targets in cont... More (HACMHypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (HACM): An air-launched, scramjet-powered weapon system designed to strike high-value, time-sensitive targets in cont... More). This will be built in the US by a Raytheon-Northrop Grumman consortium. The RAAF has said the weapon will be capable of being launched by the F/A-18 Super Hornet, EA-18G Growler and F-35A Lightning II as well as the P-8A Poseidon maritime surveillance aircraft.
And in January this year Defence confirmed it would acquire the Lockheed Martin Precision Strike Missile (PrSM), a hypersonic weapon with a 500km range. Increment 4, due to enter service by 2030, will have a range of more than 1,000km
Australia’s private sector is also kicking goals in hypersonics. Sydney-based Hypersonix Launch Systems 3D-prints the DART AE hypersonic vehicle and its Spartan hydrogen-fuelled Supersonic Combustion Ramjet, or SCRAMJET. The company has beaten more than 60 rivals to secure a sale to the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) for the latter’s Hypersonic and High-Cadence Airborne Testing (or HyCAT) program.
The DART AE is capable of flying non-ballistic flight patterns at speeds of Mach 5 to Mach 7 and up to 1,000 kms in range – or less than 7 minutes flying time! Hypersonix plans to fly it in early 2024.
Autonomy and hypersonics are relatively new technologies, but proliferating wildly, and Defence is in the early stages of considering how to counter them. This requires detection and tracking, positive classification as a threat, and an appropriate defeat mechanism.
Australia is a world-class – in some cases a world-best – player in autonomy and hypersonics research. And Australia has wide open spaces to test these weapons and their autonomous guidance systems.
Australia typically buys missiles and aircraft from European and American suppliers. But its international research and industry relationships mean that Australian autonomy and hypersonics programs are highly valued, generating both overseas research funding and a strong export market for their technology and products.
For the first time in a while, and in a high-technology sector of the market, Australia’s aerospace community is interacting on equal terms with its overseas counterparts.
