Darpa takes flight with A.R.E.S

In greek mythology, Ares ruled over the battlefield, riding in a chariot with his two sons deimos and phobos or fear and panic respectively. It would only be appropriate that lockheed martin in association with piasecki aircraft would name their war machine codenamed "A.R.E.S". The acronym stands for Aerial Reconfigurable Embedded System (1), which means in layman's terms a drone that will be augmentable to fulfill certain tasks on the battlefield. Before we begin our journey into the ARES program we must set the stage for america and the world at the time of its conception.

Figure 1: ARES artists drawing  with
unknown mission package

A Brave New World

Whats the purpose The year is 2009 and the USA is deeply entrenched in the war on terror. Operations in taliban hotspots are seeing a rise in attacks on convoys heading to bases to provide them with supplies. DARPA takes notice of this increasing deadly trend and creates the transformers initiative. The task was relatively simple, create a semi autonomous robot that could fly, take off and land vertically and also be reconfigurable for certain objectives. After many trials and increased funding going to the private sector DARPA announces a winner, Lockheed Martin's ARES program. Although not what was originally conceived by darpa the ARES program fit all the requirements and in theory could accomplish the battlefield tasks. See figure 1 for an artists depiction of ARES flying in the air, presumably on its way to help soldiers on the field. 

The ARES program and the greater Transformers program seeks to relieve soldiers of certain duties that needlessly put them at risk. Effectively the Transformers program seeks to put a robot into a situation that most likely would otherwise result in possible casualties. Lockheed Martins ARES program seeks to eliminate 4 responsibilities: transportation, reconnaissance, close air support, and casualty evacuation using a system of pod modules. The drone would have a central airframe consisting of two ducted fans. In Layman's terms a ducted fan is a rotor which has been placed in a duct which is basically a housing. The housing serves to increase performance, therefore lift and total possible cargo weight are both increased. The housing would attach to the pod modules by a harness which could raise and lower them into position during hovering operations. (1) 

Troops exiting the rear of the ARES transport pod.

Transportation

The most important of the four goals is to provide safer transportation of goods and troops throughout hostile areas. The second highest cause of death for soldiers is during transportation. The system seeks to alleviate the risk by offering a flight option with VTOL (Vertical Take Off and Landing) capabilities. The system could transport both equipment and personnel to their desired destination, without the need for on flight pilots. 

Reconnaissance

US Recon Marines survey land 

Another high risk area on the battlefront would be intelligence gathering. It is also quite strenuous for the soldiers involved, as it often times includes long hours of waiting, with little to no time for rest. The reconnaissance package would be designed to gather info using cameras and imaging sensors which would allow for a more indepth look at enemy movements. 

Close Air Support

The unfortunate truth is that war requires fighting, and ARES comes prepared. The close air support package would allow for remotely piloted guns to engage targets in tandem with ground operations. DARPA has made it clear that ARES would only be used in tandem with ground operations and is not intended to operate on its own. This task is very dangerous and could help alleviate some of the dangers felt by aircrews and infantrymen alike. The infantry still gets air support while the aircrews don't have to be put in danger to provide it. Also ARES is more versatile, due to its smaller more nimble airframe when compared to a  MH-6 little bird, which is often used to fill the close air support role. 

Figure 4: Squad of troops preparing to load a casualty
on to the CASEVAC suite of ARES

Casualty Evacuation

Another important facet of the ARES program is the unmanned casualty evacuation (CASEVAC) pod. The CASEVAC pod would be equipped with basic life support systems and possibly a field medic. Casualty Evacuation is often times very difficult during a mission, as the soldiers have already been fired upon and the helicopter is a large slow target. Sometimes CASEVAC by helo is impossible due to the risks placed on the aircrew by the opposing forces, (3) but this is where ARES shines. The eliminated aircrew means that ARES could go to possibly hostile environments and if it gets shut down it is not a big deal, nobody dies. 

A one time fix for a multitude of problems

The ARES system is a functional solution to all types of problems with manned air systems. The implementation should be seamless, as the modular design allows for quick changes to its mission. Among other things the ARES system also will help eliminate soldiers risks on the frontlines and make soldiers lives easier through additional support systems and wider availability of air support. Lastly the ARES system can operate without proper infrastructure needed by other forms of transportation such as helicopters and planes. No longer will robotics be a band-aid on a problem but rather they will be a permanent solution.

References:

1: Turner, E. (n.d.). ARES - Aerial Reconfigurable Embedded System. Retrieved August 02, 2016, from http://www.lockheedmartin.com/us/products/ares.html

2: Templeton, G. (2013, August 21). DARPA is building an autonomous vertical takeoff transport for troops, cars, and more ExtremeTech. Retrieved August 02, 2016, from http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/164392-darpa-is-building-an-autonomous-vertical-takeoff-transport-for-troops-cars-and-more

3: Goldberg, M. S. (2014). Updated death and injury rates of U.S. military personnel during the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan (pp. 2-12) (United States, Congressional Budget Agency). Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania: Congressional Budget Office.

Artists Drawings [Photographs]. (2013) Retrieved from: http://www.codeonemagazine.com/article.html?item_id=118

Recon Marine [Photograph] Retrieved from: http://www.military.com/special-operations/force-recon.html