Enhancing the USMC VTOL Family of Systems
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Authors
Fitzpatrick, Christian
Johnson, Bonnie W.
Miller, Scot A.
Subjects
Advisors
Date of Issue
2023-10-23
Date
Publisher
Monterey, CA; Naval Postgraduate School
Language
Abstract
This project continues research exploring emerging capabilities that might improve the United States Marine Corps’ (USMC) future vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) family of systems. Their problem is distinguishing between the hype and the promise of autonomy, automation, and artificial intelligence (AI), with respect to legacy and new missions. The research team employed several approaches to assist, from using modeling techniques to explore the efficacy of USMC VTOL in anti-submarine warfare (ASW) to using literature review and prior research to explain autonomy, AI, and automation. The results showed that magnetic anomaly detection equipped air launched effects (ALE) from the new platform would successfully serve as a bellringer in a realistic ASW scenario, where the Marines’ ASW effort reassured surface vessels as they conducted maritime maneuver. The literature review confirmed that the word autonomy is one of the most overused and least understood terms prevalent in the Department of Defense (DOD) today. The research team generated a checklist for the sponsor to use to weed out hype and identify true promising capabilities, based on an extension of the technology readiness level (TRL) paradigm, where the researchers also generated an acquisition, test and certification, and training readiness level construct. Researchers concluded that extraordinary vigilance is required as the sponsor explores new concepts and recommended that they use the new readiness checklists every brief they receive.
Type
Technical Report
Description
Series/Report No
Department
Organization
Identifiers
NPS Report Number
NPS-IS-23-010
Sponsors
Naval Postgraduate School, Naval Research Program; Headquarters, Marine Corps Department of Aviation
Funding
This research is supported by funding from the Naval Postgraduate School, Naval Research Program (PE0605853N/2098). https://nps.edu/nrp
Chief of Naval Operations (CNO)
Chief of Naval Operations (CNO)
Format
39 p.
Citation
Distribution Statement
Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.