`MISSION MANAGED BY MOUSE' A MILESTONE FOR AIRCRAFT.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE - In what could be called a ``mission managed by mouse,'' two computer-guided aircraft under the control of one operator on the ground conducted a coordinated flight over Edwards Air Force Base.

The Aug. 1 flight by two Boeing X-45A jets was regarded as a major milestone in the effort to develop unmanned aircraft to take on extremely dangerous missions.

The flight was a steppingstone toward developing technologies to allow such aircraft to conduct coordinated attacks against such targets as anti-aircraft missile sites.

``This is the first time ever anybody has flown two vehicles in coordinated flight,'' said Roy Smith, Boeing's X-45A test director.

The flight was made possible by the X-45A's ``four-dimensional'' navigation capability - the ability of the aircraft to not only to guide itself to a given position, but to do it at a designated time.

The jets' ability to maintain a position relative to one another greatly reduces the workload for the operator.

``That allows the operator to manage the tactical portion of the mission,'' said Rob Horton, the operator of the aircraft on the Aug. 1 mission.

During the flight, the X-45A aircraft took off four minutes apart from the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards. At the operator's command, the they joined up in a preset formation.

For the flight, the aircraft kept more than a mile apart as the test team explored coordinated flight.

The two aircraft flew in coordinated flight for 15 to 20 minutes.

The aircraft reached altitudes of 15,000 feet and flew at speeds of about 300 mph.

The flight is part of an effort by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Air Force, and Navy to develop unmanned combat aircraft that can take on such missions as attacking anti-aircraft missile sites, dropping bombs deep within enemy territory, interfering with enemy electronics and doing reconnaissance.

The flight test program will include a simulated attack with the two X-45A planes in early 2005.

Defense officials want to be able to have four unmanned aircraft be operated by one person.

In April, one of the X-45As conducted a simulated bombing mission. The aircraft took off from Edwards, found its target - a truck on a military range in the east Kern County desert - and, with the go-ahead given by a human 80 miles away, delivered an inert precision-guided bomb that hit within feet of the vehicle.

Had the bomb carried an explosive warhead, it would have blown the truck to bits, officials said.

Unmanned Predator reconnaissance planes have already been used in both Afghanistan and Iraq to fire guided missiles at vehicles, showing the potential for future unmanned fighters.

Predator aircraft, which are remotely controlled by pilots on the ground, have limited capability of carrying weapons and were not designed with a fighter/bomber role in mind.

Jim Skeen, [phone]

james.skeen(at)dailynews.com