Investigating Possible Effects of UAVs on Aircraft Carrier Deck Operations

In the near future, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) usage will expand into the Naval aircraft carrier operating environment. The new and different capabilities of these vehicles will likely introduce numerous potential changes in the nature of deck operations. The presence of UAVs and wireless data communications will enable centralized planning and control of launch and recovery schedules, leading to fundamental changes in the nature of launch and recovery events. Moreover, the effect of UAVs and UGVs on total manpower and man-hours of labor required to execute launch and recovery tasks is unknown. However, these changes may further alter the number of crew and amount of labor required in order to accomplish launch and recovery tasks. To this end, a simulation of aircraft carrier deck operations has been created that incorporates models of manned aircraft, crew, deck support vehicles (e.g. tow tractors, fire trucks) and deck resources (catapults, elevators and arresting gear) as well the ability to alter various factors governing the environment, UAV behavior and physical dimensions of aircraft and the ship. This effort examines the potential force reductions that UAVs may enable for aircraft carrier deck operations. Specifically, the effects of aircraft roster composition (all manned, all unmanned, or mixed), unmanned vehicle behavior (slower or faster than manned aircraft) and UAV autonomy (number of crew required) on the number of crew required and the workload of these crewmembers are investigated. These effects are weighed against a measure of mission performance for launch op-