The Manned-Unmanned Teaming (MUM-T) employment concept is a force multiplier for United
States Army Aviation. This collaborative employment of manned and unmanned platforms generates enhanced situation awareness, greater lethality, and improved survivability. The Synergistic Unmanned Manned Intelligent Teaming (SUMIT) program was a 6.3 Science and Technology (S&T) program evaluating the impact of innovative autonomy, decision aiding, and Human Machine Interface (HMI) technologies on an Air Mission Commander (AMC) during the execution of MUM-T scenarios. The primary purpose of SUMIT was to identify Manned-Unmanned Teaming (MUM-T) system capabilities that increase combat effectiveness and provide recommendations on metrics to assess these capabilities.
The U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) Aviation & Missile Center (AvMC) recruited 40 volunteer participants with relevant experience to complete challenging MUM-T scenario vignettes in reconfigurable rotary wing flight simulators. Over the course of five system evaluations utilizing integrated vendor proposed design solutions, the results identified MUM-T system capabilities that increase combat effectiveness as well as methodological recommendations for future MUM-T technology assessment efforts.
Brian T. Hall, PMP 