"Veteran Pilots" Retake the Unmanned Equipment Course, Turning "Single-System Proficiency" into "System-Wide Linkage"
A Brigade of the 73rd Group Army Explores and Optimizes the Path to Generating New-Quality Combat Capabilities (新质战斗力) — "Veteran Pilots" Retake the Unmanned Equipment Course
■ Zhu Jun, PLA Daily Special Correspondents Liao Xiaobin and Ni Xinlei
A CBRN defense detachment of a brigade under the 73rd Group Army conducts reconnaissance operations using unmanned aerial vehicles. Photo by Yang Qi.
In mid-spring, mist hangs over the mountains of southern Fujian. In the air, a reconnaissance UAV circles at low altitude; on the ground, a robot dog lunges forward in a crouching gait, with an explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) robot following close behind.
Hundreds of meters away inside a command shelter, Staff Sergeant Second Class Miao Zetian of a brigade under the 73rd Group Army fixes his eyes on the control terminal, simultaneously piloting the UAV and monitoring the robot dog's route of advance, while periodically reminding the comrade beside him to adjust the EOD robot's speed. The aerial and ground unmanned systems coordinate closely and smoothly, successfully clearing a safe passage.
"Before this training exercise, everyone conducted theoretical study and multiple simulation drills covering the operational skills for each type of unmanned equipment and the coordinated tactics involved," Staff Officer Li of the brigade's operations and training section told the reporter. In recent years, the brigade has successively introduced multiple types of unmanned equipment, and officers and soldiers have shown great enthusiasm for learning and operating them; many have become top performers in the unmanned equipment field. However, several months ago, when the brigade attempted its first mixed-formation exercise with more than ten unmanned systems operating simultaneously, a number of problems were exposed during system-on-system confrontation: UAV mission areas overlapped, repeatedly reconnoitering the same terrain; unmanned surface vessels crossed paths in the water and nearly collided; the robot dog's tactical integration was inadequate and sensor data could not be synchronized in time... On the exercise floor, it was either signal interference or action conflicts. The single problem of signal interference caused by simultaneously powering on multiple types of equipment was enough to give Miao Zetian — a "veteran pilot" (老飞手) with over a thousand flight sorties — a headache.
"Mastering the operational skills for unmanned equipment is not the same as generating combat capability. Only by being embedded in the system-of-systems operational chain (体系作战链条) can unmanned equipment truly realize its operational effectiveness." At a combat and training review conference (议战议训会), the brigade's leadership identified the problem and proactively sought change by targeting the challenge of unmanned equipment coordination: they formed an unmanned equipment intensive training team, with backbone personnel from each specialty taking the podium to share professional experience and equipment operational skills and difficulties; they organized cross-specialty study and discussion, guiding officers and soldiers from different specialties to research tactics and training methods for modular grouping of unmanned forces through mutual learning; and they regularly conducted manned-unmanned coordinated tactics exercises and drills with tactical scenarios, focusing on breaking through coordination difficulties in unmanned equipment one by one.
A cohort of unmanned equipment training backbone personnel — each highly proficient in their own specialty — converged without prior arrangement on the brigade's unmanned equipment specialist training room to retake the unmanned equipment course. As the brigade's UAV instructor, Miao Zetian voluntarily signed up for the intensive training. During the training, he took the podium to systematically explain UAV operational skills and the signal and flight-path requirements for UAV reconnaissance to his comrades. At the same time, he became a "student" again, learning from backbone personnel in other specialties about the robot dog's movement rhythm and studying the EOD robot's operational procedures.
"How do we avoid mutual signal interference?" "How do we ensure uninterrupted data links for multiple types of unmanned equipment operating in the same action?" "Which unmanned systems should be added when executing a mission to achieve greater efficiency?"... The officers and soldiers in the intensive training continuously generated new ideas through exchange and discussion, resolved multiple coordination problems, and worked out several new manned-unmanned coordinated tactics.
"Today, many operators who were originally proficient only in a single type of unmanned equipment have grown into 'all-rounders' (多面手) well-versed in the coordination mechanisms of multiple types of unmanned equipment," Staff Officer Li said with evident satisfaction. Taking Miao Zetian as an example: he can now skillfully use a UAV to guide the robot dog and EOD robot in coordinated operations. In a recent training exercise, facing a complex electromagnetic environment, he and his comrades operated multiple types of unmanned equipment to complete the training mission with "zero interference and zero errors."
From "single-system proficiency" (单装精通) to "system-wide linkage" (体系联动), the brigade's steps in exploring new coordinated tactics for unmanned equipment have grown increasingly concrete. The brigade's leadership introduced that they will continue to optimize the path to generating new-quality combat capabilities, and through such means as routinely organizing "all-elements, full-process" (全要素、全流程) adversarial training for unmanned equipment, will focus on solving the problems of data-link integration and autonomous coordination among multiple unmanned platforms in complex electromagnetic environments, driving tactical innovation and equipment iteration to advance in resonance.
Behind the Unmanned Is the "Highly Capable" (高人)
■ Fan Enda
From "one person, one system" to "multi-system coordination," from "each fighting independently" to "system-of-systems integration" — the practice of a brigade under the 73rd Group Army in deepening coordinated training for unmanned equipment tells us: behind the unmanned is the "highly capable" (高人). Unmanned and intelligentized (无人化智能化) does not mean weapons becoming human; rather, it means unmanned weapons at the front end and high-quality personnel at the back end, with humans and weapons highly integrated.
At present, unmanned and intelligentized equipment is being fielded to units at an accelerating pace, but this does not mean combat capability will naturally leap forward. The essence of manned-unmanned coordination is not simply "transferring" human operations to machines, but rather, through restructuring operational processes and innovating tactics and methods, enabling each type of unmanned equipment to fully release its operational effectiveness under unified human command, ultimately producing a system-of-systems effect of "1+1>2."
No matter how technology develops, humans remain the decisive factor in war's outcome. As integrated joint operations accelerate in their evolution, we must continuously strengthen manned-unmanned coordinated training, drive the alignment of officers' and soldiers' capabilities with battlefield requirements, make every unmanned system an organic node in the operational chain, and make every operator a "bonding agent" (黏合剂) for system-of-systems integration. Only in this way can new-domain, new-quality (新域新质) equipment fully realize its role on the battlefield.
Forging the System Through Resonance
■ Staff Sergeant Second Class, a Brigade of the 73rd Group Army, Miao Zetian
Training concluded, the reconnaissance UAV returned to base, and the EOD robot and robot dog successively returned to their positions. "Image stable, signal normal — this time we finally turned the tables!" Hearing everyone's remarks, I set down the control terminal and finally felt a weight lift from my chest.
Flying a single UAV well is not difficult. There was a time when, piloting a UAV solo, "clear imagery and smooth commands" was something I could achieve with ease. Yet the failure of that first mixed-formation exercise struck everyone like a hammer blow to the heart: powering on the UAV, EOD robot, and robot dog simultaneously not only caused image lag and command delays, but the various unmanned systems even began competing for signal channels. Beyond that, operators of different unmanned systems each had their own operating habits, and during training the phenomenon of "each fighting independently" was fairly common. Though sharing the same training ground, different crew positions were as if separated by invisible walls.
On the surface it was a technical bottleneck; in substance it was insufficient coordination capability. After that exercise setback, the brigade simultaneously worked with manufacturers to tackle the problem — assigning each type of equipment its own dedicated signal channel and backup signal channel — while forming an unmanned equipment intensive training team to collectively research how to enable equipment to realize coordinated effectiveness, optimizing the coordination mechanism through repeated trials. After working through these issues, the technical bottlenecks among different systems were cleared, and a shared sense of coordination was established among operators of different systems.
Moving from "each fighting independently" to resonance — this experience made me realize: a single drop of water can only release tremendous power by merging into the sea. Every unmanned system and every officer and soldier must be firmly embedded in the system-of-systems operational chain, allowing data to flow in an orderly manner and actions to mesh with precision, in order to open new pathways and generate new prospects in combat capability building, and to accumulate solid confidence for winning future wars.
(Compiled by PLA Daily Special Correspondent Ni Xinlei)