Stratcom’s Kenneth Callicutt, General Atomics’ Chris Pehrson Eye Drone Deployment in Contested Environments

Kenneth Callicutt, director of capability and resource integration at the U.S. Strategic Command, has said unmanned aircraft vehicles could be deployed in non-permissive environments, operate as part of a network and expand manned aircraft’s “sensor net,” Aviation International News reported Tuesday.

Bill Carey writes Callicutt made the remarks Tuesday at the Air Force Association’s Air, Space and Cyber conference.

Chris Pehrson, senior director of strategic development at General Atomics’ aeronautical systems business, said a capability is needed to develop a capability to facilitate mission reassignment for unmanned aircraft that operate within a network, Carey reports.

“It’s not about the vehicle, it’s about how they’re employed and what they do to extend the productivity and the reach of the warfighter, whether it’s extending sensor networks, whether it’s automation that allows them to work in less permissive or contested environments because they have a logic that allows them to adapt,” Pehrson noted.

General Atomics displayed at the AFA conference a model of its small UAS concept for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Gremlins program, the report added.

DARPA awarded phase one contracts to General Atomics, Lockheed Martin, Dynetics and Composite Engineering in April to build a reusable UAS designed to be retrieved in mid-air once it completes its mission.