Is It Worth It? Operational Risk Managment

I chose to create an Operational Risk Management (ORM) Assessment Tool (Figure 1) for the Boeing/Insitu ScanEagle small unmanned aerial system (SUAS).  The ScanEagle is used by the Department of Defense in an intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) role.  The ScanEagle is capable of carrying electro-optic or a dual imager (Boeing, n.d.).  It has an operational ceiling above 15,000 feet and mission duration of 20 hours (Boeing, n.d.).  The ScanEagle launches from a Mark 4 launcher or the more mobile Compact Mark 4 launcher and is auto-recovered by the SkyHook recovery system which catches the aircraft mid-flight (Army-Technology, 2016).  A unique feature of the launch, control, and recovery systems is that they are interoperable with all other unmanned aircraft developed by Insitu.

The ORM assessment tool development began with the Preliminary Hazard List and Assessment (Figure 2).  To create this list I ran through a mission from launch to recovery addressing potential known risks of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and expanded on those specific to the ScanEagle system.  Since the aircraft itself costs less than $100,000 no risk was assessed above marginal (Barnard, n.d.).  It is assumed during launch and recovery operations, personnel will not be in a place of danger to cause higher levels of risk.

Following the Preliminary Hazard List and Assessment the Operational Hazard Review and Analysis (Figure 3) was created.  When the mitigation actions of the Preliminary Hazard List and Assessment were integrated into the risks many of the probability ratings were reduced.  In addition many of the severity ratings were reduced after mitigation actions were incorporated.

The ORM assessment tool followed similar planning by going from mission planning, to launch, then on to the mission itself, and finally recovery of the aircraft.  In addition to the risks of the aircraft, the human aspect is also accounted for.  This includes the pilot crew members as well the launch and recovery crew members.  The level of mission planning begins the ORM assessment tool because it is the first factor to increase or decrease risk.  Deliberate mission planning is rated the lowest risk because more factors can be assessed and preventative measures taken.  Crews are the next area assessed in the ORM tool beginning with which portion of a crew rotation they are in.  Earlier in the rotation is rated lower because personnel are more rested and focused in this portion.  The latter portion of a rotation will show more fatigue and greater possibility of personal error.  The level of experience also affects risk.  Launch and pilot crews are assessed separately because of the unique duties they must perform.  The launch crews require fewer launches to reduce their risk due to the automated nature of the launch and the duration of sorties exposing the pilot crew to greater risk.  Since the ScanEagle can fly for up to 28 hours, the weather at the launch site may vary greatly from the weather in-flight.  For this reason each area has a specific portion of the assessment.  Day operations receive a lower risk than night operations.  During the mission it is possible for the ScanEagle to lose its link.  The lowest threat is if the aircraft returns to base while continuing the mission is the highest.  During continuation of the mission it is unknown if the link will be reestablished therefore increasing the risk.  Shorter missions are rated less risky partly because there is less opportunity for a mishap to occur.  This also ties in with the next assessment which is crew makeup.  A single crew is less of a risk than when a mission is transferred to a new crew.  A changeover briefing or procedure helps reduce this risk, however, there is no substitute for experiencing previous portions of the mission.  If a crew is non-current they must regain their currency before unsupervised operations.  Crew members that are current are assessed the lowest risk.  Although the ScanEagle is a small system, enemy threat cannot be ignored.  If intelligence assesses no risk the lowest value is assessed.  In the event of a threat then the level of risk is raised.  The final area of concern is GPS jamming.  Many areas of operation will not have any GPS threat, however, in those areas of the world where GPS jammers are proliferated the ORM risk is raised.  Once all areas are assessed the total is compared to determine the overall level of risk for a particular mission.

Figure 1. Operational Risk Management Assessment Tool

Figure 2. Preliminary Hazard List and Analysis for ScanEagle Small Unmanned Aerial System

Figure 3. Operational Hazard Review and Analysis

References

Army-Technology. (2016). Army-Technology. Retrieved from ScanEagle2 Unmanned Aircraft System, United States of America: http://www.army-technology.com/projects/scaneagle-2-unmanned-aircraft-system-uas/

Boeing. (n.d.). ScanEagle Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. Retrieved from Historical Snapshot: http://www.boeing.com/history/products/scaneagle-unmanned-aerial-vehicle.page

Barnard (n.d.). Barnard Microsystems. Retrieved from InSitu Group ScanEagle A15: http://www.barnardmicrosystems.com/UAV/uav_list/scaneagle.html