1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:00,000 2 00:00:23,120 --> 00:00:25,709 My name is Kirk Harwood . Uh I was the 3 00:00:25,719 --> 00:00:29,329 air vehicle lead uh uh for the Global 4 00:00:29,360 --> 00:00:31,430 Hawk program during the block 20 5 00:00:31,440 --> 00:00:33,659 envelope expansion had very unique 6 00:00:33,669 --> 00:00:36,080 aspects to it because uh obviously the 7 00:00:36,090 --> 00:00:38,750 Global Hawk is an automated air vehicle . 8 00:00:39,119 --> 00:00:42,680 And uh so we would plan for missions 9 00:00:42,689 --> 00:00:45,060 that were what we built up from four 10 00:00:45,069 --> 00:00:48,060 hours to I think it ended up being 33 11 00:00:48,069 --> 00:00:51,259 hour mission at the end . Um And so you 12 00:00:51,270 --> 00:00:55,099 had to plan for not only being in the 13 00:00:55,110 --> 00:00:57,599 control room for a long period of the 14 00:00:57,610 --> 00:00:59,520 day , I remember maybe we settled 15 00:00:59,529 --> 00:01:01,751 around six hours or something like that 16 00:01:01,751 --> 00:01:03,973 and then shifted people in and out . So 17 00:01:03,973 --> 00:01:05,918 you had to have good communication 18 00:01:05,918 --> 00:01:08,660 between one team to the next team so 19 00:01:08,669 --> 00:01:10,725 that you could get through the whole 20 00:01:10,725 --> 00:01:12,949 flight as they got longer and longer 21 00:01:16,120 --> 00:01:18,287 from my time in the Global Hawk . So I 22 00:01:18,287 --> 00:01:20,287 joined the Global Hawk community in 23 00:01:20,287 --> 00:01:22,287 2015 where I started out as a pilot 24 00:01:22,287 --> 00:01:24,509 with them and then proceeded through as 25 00:01:24,509 --> 00:01:26,620 a pilot , became an electronic combat 26 00:01:26,620 --> 00:01:28,731 officer as well to help us figure out 27 00:01:28,731 --> 00:01:30,790 how to uh be more survivable in sat 28 00:01:30,889 --> 00:01:33,790 comm either denied or low availability 29 00:01:33,800 --> 00:01:36,040 areas as well . Uh And then continued 30 00:01:36,050 --> 00:01:38,050 on to operational tests for the R P 31 00:01:38,050 --> 00:01:40,779 four the operational perspectives and 32 00:01:40,790 --> 00:01:42,957 then also the limitations that the the 33 00:01:42,957 --> 00:01:46,010 platform had because it was thrust into 34 00:01:46,019 --> 00:01:48,669 a national heat . Uh It really provided 35 00:01:48,680 --> 00:01:51,529 me a perspective as a tester after test 36 00:01:51,540 --> 00:01:53,484 out school coming into the port in 37 00:01:53,484 --> 00:01:56,209 second , about how important it is to 38 00:01:56,220 --> 00:01:58,220 bring in your operational context , 39 00:01:58,220 --> 00:02:00,276 bring in the the experience that you 40 00:02:00,276 --> 00:02:03,050 have flying the line performing 41 00:02:03,059 --> 00:02:05,360 missions with the platform and ensuring 42 00:02:05,370 --> 00:02:07,592 that the next level systems or the next 43 00:02:07,592 --> 00:02:09,759 level platforms or whatever else comes 44 00:02:09,759 --> 00:02:11,981 down the line is is that to the best of 45 00:02:11,981 --> 00:02:14,037 your ability , ready to do that next 46 00:02:14,037 --> 00:02:16,139 mission or that next fight . Also 47 00:02:16,149 --> 00:02:18,093 anticipating that we're gonna be , 48 00:02:18,093 --> 00:02:20,038 we're gonna be asking those future 49 00:02:20,038 --> 00:02:22,260 systems to do things that they were not 50 00:02:22,260 --> 00:02:21,960 urgently intending to do as well , 51 00:02:21,970 --> 00:02:24,081 which is an interesting , interesting 52 00:02:24,081 --> 00:02:27,490 line to balance the legacy of the , of 53 00:02:27,500 --> 00:02:29,869 the R Q four is bringing in a autonomy 54 00:02:29,880 --> 00:02:32,949 into aviation , into particularly mil 55 00:02:32,960 --> 00:02:35,490 military aviation . Bring in early 56 00:02:35,500 --> 00:02:37,667 lessons learned on how in the world do 57 00:02:37,667 --> 00:02:40,619 I ask ? A and we'll use whatever words 58 00:02:40,630 --> 00:02:42,797 that make sense at the time . Um Maybe 59 00:02:42,797 --> 00:02:44,908 a semi autonomous , whatever we might 60 00:02:44,908 --> 00:02:46,519 want to call the R U four uh 61 00:02:46,519 --> 00:02:48,074 definitions are for another 62 00:02:48,074 --> 00:02:50,241 conversation , but a platform that has 63 00:02:50,241 --> 00:02:52,350 arguably a high degree of autonomy 64 00:02:52,360 --> 00:02:54,839 because I don't have it necessarily a 65 00:02:54,850 --> 00:02:57,183 problem and stick to interact with that . 66 00:02:57,183 --> 00:02:58,906 Platform and experimenting and 67 00:02:58,906 --> 00:03:00,961 experiencing out in the real world , 68 00:03:00,961 --> 00:03:03,017 what is required , what is asked for 69 00:03:03,017 --> 00:03:05,470 various levels of autonomous platforms 70 00:03:05,490 --> 00:03:08,190 that helped inform , I believe those 71 00:03:08,199 --> 00:03:10,366 lessons , those experience are helping 72 00:03:10,366 --> 00:03:12,949 inform future autonomous platforms that 73 00:03:12,960 --> 00:03:15,182 are also coming down the line as well . 74 00:03:16,449 --> 00:03:19,250 The Global Hawk may be going away . Um 75 00:03:19,259 --> 00:03:21,919 It's , it's done its duty , I guess . 76 00:03:21,929 --> 00:03:24,710 Um , but uh I think there's other 77 00:03:24,720 --> 00:03:26,942 things out there or there will be other 78 00:03:26,942 --> 00:03:29,410 things out there in the same vein . Uh 79 00:03:29,779 --> 00:03:32,119 They won't be remotely piloted , 80 00:03:32,130 --> 00:03:34,279 they'll be autonomous air vehicles . 81 00:03:34,289 --> 00:03:36,345 You know , we're hearing a lot about 82 00:03:36,345 --> 00:03:38,011 that these days and , and his 83 00:03:38,011 --> 00:03:40,070 predecessors actually , um , in uh 84 00:03:40,080 --> 00:03:43,619 Ryanair article , um are really the 85 00:03:43,630 --> 00:03:46,899 legacy of , of what we're doing . So , 86 00:03:47,419 --> 00:03:51,339 all of those older programs and how 87 00:03:51,350 --> 00:03:53,770 we've done things in those programs 88 00:03:54,080 --> 00:03:56,440 should be very educational for the 89 00:03:56,449 --> 00:03:58,809 people coming along , doing these newly 90 00:03:58,820 --> 00:04:00,880 autonomous air vehicles that we're 91 00:04:00,889 --> 00:04:02,869 looking at to go with the next 92 00:04:02,880 --> 00:04:04,169 generation of aircraft .