Advanced Military UAS Systems Engineering Training by Tonex
Advanced Military UAS Systems Engineering Training by Tonex is a two-day engineering program focused on the disciplined development of military unmanned aircraft systems from operational need through mission assurance. Participants examine requirements, CONOPS development, architecture, subsystem design, integration, verification and validation, reliability, redundancy, and airworthiness across complex UAS platforms.
The course connects airframe, propulsion, power, navigation, sensors, communications, mission computing, ground control, and AI processing into an integrated system-of-systems perspective. Cybersecurity is addressed as an engineering requirement across avionics, payloads, datalinks, SATCOM, ground stations, and mission computers. Participants examine how cybersecurity architecture, resilient communications, trusted interfaces, and protected command-and-control functions contribute to survivability and mission assurance.
The course uses a practical training approach that includes exercises, real-world case studies, and examples of processes and documentation used in military UAS projects. A conceptual MALE UAS architecture workshop draws on publicly available characteristics of systems such as Heron TP and Hermes without reproducing proprietary designs.
Learning Objectives
Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:
- Translate military mission needs into operational requirements, CONOPS elements, and engineering constraints for advanced UAS programs.
- Develop logical and physical UAS architectures integrating aircraft, payload, communication, ground, and mission-support elements.
- Evaluate airframe, propulsion, electrical power, navigation, flight-control, payload, and mission-computing subsystem interfaces.
- Analyze GNSS/INS navigation, EO/IR, radar, SIGINT, EW, datalink, SATCOM, and ground-station integration requirements.
- Apply verification, validation, reliability, redundancy, airworthiness, and mission-assurance principles throughout the UAS engineering lifecycle.
- Integrate cybersecurity requirements into UAS avionics, communications, payload interfaces, mission computers, and ground-control architectures.
- Assess design tradeoffs involving performance, payload capacity, endurance, communications availability, autonomy, reliability, and operational resilience.
- Develop and communicate a conceptual MALE UAS system architecture using professional systems engineering processes and documentation.
Audience
- UAS Systems Engineers
- Aerospace Engineers
- Avionics Engineers
- Electrical and Power Systems Engineers
- Flight-Control Engineers
- Mission Systems Engineers
- EO/IR and Radar Engineers
- SIGINT and EW Specialists
- Communications and SATCOM Engineers
- Ground Control System Engineers
- Reliability and Safety Engineers
- Airworthiness Professionals
- Defense Program Managers
- Systems Architects
- Verification and Validation Engineers
- Cybersecurity Professionals
- Defense Contractors and Technical Leaders
Course Modules
Module 1: UAS Requirements and CONOPS
- Military mission needs and operational objectives
- Stakeholder requirements and capability definition
- CONOPS development for UAS missions
- Functional and performance requirements
- Requirements traceability and allocation
- Mission profiles and operating environments
Module 2: UAS Architecture and Design
- Logical and physical architecture development
- Airframe and aerodynamic design considerations
- Propulsion and endurance engineering
- Electrical power generation and distribution
- Subsystem interfaces and architecture allocation
- Performance, weight, power, and payload trades
Module 3: Avionics Navigation and Control
- Flight-control computer architecture
- GNSS and INS navigation integration
- Guidance, navigation, and control functions
- Automatic taxi, takeoff, and landing concepts
- Avionics redundancy and fault management
- Navigation resilience and degraded operations
Module 4: Sensors Payloads and Computing
- EO/IR payload architecture and integration
- Radar payload interfaces and processing
- SIGINT collection system considerations
- Electronic warfare payload integration
- AI processing and onboard decision support
- Mission computer architecture and interfaces
Module 5: Communications Cybersecurity and Resilience
- Line-of-sight tactical datalink architecture
- BLOS SATCOM integration and availability
- Ground station command-and-control interfaces
- Secure command, telemetry, and payload communications
- Cybersecurity architecture and trust boundaries
- Communications redundancy and mission resilience
Module 6: Integration Verification Mission Assurance
- System integration planning and sequencing
- Verification and validation strategies
- Reliability and availability engineering
- Redundancy and fault-tolerant architecture
- Airworthiness and mission-assurance considerations
- MALE UAS conceptual architecture workshop
Engineering Workshop and Applied Case Study
Participants work in teams to develop a conceptual Medium-Altitude Long-Endurance UAS architecture based on an assigned military mission profile. The exercise moves from operational objectives and CONOPS through requirements allocation, system architecture, major subsystem selection, interface definition, communications design, payload integration, redundancy, cybersecurity, and mission-assurance considerations.
Teams examine how airframe, propulsion, power, GNSS/INS, flight-control computers, EO/IR, radar, SIGINT, EW payloads, datalinks, SATCOM, ground stations, AI processing, and mission computers interact as a complete operational capability. Design decisions require consideration of endurance, payload capacity, power availability, communications coverage, navigation resilience, environmental conditions, reliability, and airworthiness.
Publicly available architectural characteristics associated with systems such as the IAI Heron TP and Elbit Hermes family provide useful engineering context. The Heron TP is particularly valuable as a public case study for examining BLOS SATCOM, redundant avionics, automatic taxi/takeoff/landing capabilities, and multi-payload mission configurations. Participants use these publicly described capabilities only as systems-engineering references rather than attempting to reproduce proprietary implementations.
The final architecture exercise emphasizes requirements traceability, interface management, architecture tradeoffs, verification planning, cybersecurity protection, failure tolerance, and mission assurance. Participants also review examples of engineering artifacts that may appear during defense UAS development, including CONOPS documents, system requirements, architecture views, interface descriptions, verification matrices, risk registers, reliability assessments, and mission-assurance documentation.
Advance Military UAS Engineering Capability
Build stronger engineering expertise across the complete unmanned aircraft lifecycle with Advanced Military UAS Systems Engineering Training by Tonex and strengthen your organization’s ability to design, integrate, verify, secure, and assure complex military UAS capabilities.