Download M61 Unmanned/Uninhabited Aerial Vehicles

M61
Unmanned/Uninhabited Aerial Vehicles
Introduction
Unmanned aircraft have been around since attempts by the RAF and
Luftwaffe to fit radio guidance to bombers and other aircraft in order to use
them as crude missiles. Combination with rocketry has produced weapons of
varying “intelligence” and complexity. For the purposes of this paper UAV
means a multi-use airframe rather than a single-use missile.
Israel has been particularly successful in the development of these aircraft for
reconnaissance and has employed them frequently in the patrolling of its
borders.
The UK has achieved limited success with the Phoenix artillery
reconnaissance drone and is about to embark on the Watchkeeper
programme. In the USA, advanced concept technology demonstration
programmes aim to bring modern technology onto the battlefield more quickly.
It was through this that the American reconnaissance drones, the Predator,
Predator B, and Global Hawk, have come about.
From reconnaissance to strike
The Predator drone was initially designed to be able to carry a small payload
to accommodate future advances in sensor technology and this ability is being
designed into the Global Hawk. In February 2001 the USAF successfully fired
a Hellfire laser-guided anti-tank missile from a modified Predator, using the
drone’s onboard laser-guidance unit for target designation. This capability
was further demonstrated in action in February 2002 over Afghanistan and is
believed to have attacked senior Al-Quaida commandors.
With the demonstrated capability for the current Predator to carry two Hellfire
missiles and the faster, and higher-flying, Predator B expected to be able to
carry as many as fourteen missiles the USAF has created a significant new
military asset.
It is largely the reconnaissance-oriented design of the Predator, and its
fellows, which makes them effective in combat operations.
stealthy,
combining
radar-absorbing
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materials
with
They are all
low-observable
technology. They are also very quiet and incorporate the latest in coatings to
make them difficult to see from the ground.
Combined with this relative invisibility is their long loiter-time. The Predator is
able to deploy several hundred miles and then patrol on station for about
sixteen hours before returning; for the Global Hawk this loiter-time is in the
region of twenty-four hours.
It is this ability to wait invisibly for long periods that makes these drones
eminently suitable for interdiction and area denial. Three Global Hawks can
observe an area the size of Afghanistan and the smaller Predator drones can
also act as laser target designators for other weapons.
Using a combination of Global Hawk reconnaissance drones and Predator as
missile-carrying strike aircraft it is possible to prevent or restrict unauthorised
movement over a large area with very little effort. A Predator unit requires
around twenty personnel to operate eight drones and can be deployed
anywhere in the world by transport aircraft in a matter of hours. Global Hawk
is equally efficient in terms of manpower and time.
Within forty-eight hours the USAF is able to deploy a reconnaissance and
limited strike capability anywhere in the world. This force needs little in the
way of supply and only requires rough field capability for operations. Using
the synthetic aperture radar and infra-red sensors in the drones allows
continuous operation irrespective of night and weather conditions.
US developments
The US DoD recently approved the development of further improvements to
Global Hawk.
These include:
Maritime version; increased endurance,
payload and sensor range; some SIGINT capability; self protection and
satellite communications. Low rate initial production will see 17 Global Hawks
delivered by 2007. Thereafter active electronically scanned array radar is
expected to be introduced on unit 33, expected in 2009 during full rate
production. A navalised version for wide area maritime surveillance version is
also being developed.
This has a 12 hour endurance requirement.
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Boeing is testing prototype-45 Unmanned Aerial Combat Vehicle (UACV),
which is intended to engage high threat targets. The first demonstration flight
of X-45A took place on 22 May 2002. The proposed operational UCAV aims
for a 1200km mission radius with a 1635kg payload including 2 JDAMs and 12
small diameter bombs. The first of 14 production models will be build in 2006.
Northrop Grumman is developing a similar X-47A.
These systems are not intended to replace combat aircraft but to destroy high
priority targets when conditions are considered too hazardous to risk pilots’
lives. The drone will be able to perform manoeuvres that would cause a
normal pilot to lose consciousness so allowing it to evade missiles and other
air defence assets.
However, some doubt whether America or NATO is likely to find itself facing
an enemy with such a well developed air defence system for the foreseeable
future, and therefore question the value of such a system.
A pre Afghanistan casualty-averse USA might be attracted by it.
Now,
arguments about cost effectiveness are more likely if the projects are to go
beyond the demonstrator concept to substantial operational deployment. The
US Air Force plans to have 14 UCAV’s available for operational evaluation in
2007-8. A version for naval use will also start development at around that
time.
The US Navy is looking to a combined UAV and manned aircraft as a
replacement for its carrier-based Prowler electronic attack capability by 2015.
A UAV with stand-off cueing could fly over hostile territory to jam or attack a
target.
A
US
unmanned combat
armed
rotorcraft
technology demonstrator
programme will see its first flight towards the end of 2005. Targets are a price
of 20-40% of a Comanche and operating costs 50-80% lower than an Apache.
The objective is operational performance similar to manned helicopters but
with stand-off target identification at 2-3 times current ranges.
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Beyond that, the US Air Force research laboratory is planning a next
generation intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance UAV christened
Sensorcraft and a successor to the stealthy ultra long range cancelled Dark
Star programme.
Boeing has forecast that the US will be spending up to $6 billion a year on
UAUS by 2010.
Israeli developments
The Israeli Armed Forces have been using UAVs over many years and
arguably have developed the most mature concepts for operational use.
The Israeli solution is the third generation of UAV systems for tactical and
other applications. The latest generation of solutions is an implementation of
the accumulated experience of 25 years and over 100,00 flight hours. No
other army worldwide can match this operational maturity.
The armed forces have used UAVs for ISTAR missions, as well as artillery
support and fire adjustment for more than two decades. The UAVs are used
in three key roles: forward observer including targeting; designation for laserguided ammunitions and battle damage assessment.
The tight relations between the operational/ technical teams in the armed
forces and the industrial teams are close and extremely valuable to the
achievement of key objectives.
The areas in which excellence has been
achieved by the Israeli teams are platform design including the integration of
UAV payloads (EO, IR etc); implementation of the ground control station and
operator control philosophy including HCI optimisation; and high quality
simulation for operator training.
C41 integration is a major trend in the Israeli solution. This capability ensures
efficient use of UAV assets by users, as well as best dissemination and
sharing of information. The Israeli forces have succeeded in aim of rapidly
deploying UAV systems into the battlefield, have achieved high reliability in
operation and continue to maintain high skill level of the teams.
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UK developments
The UK MOD’s future requirement is defined in the Watchkeeper tactical UAV
system requirement, currently in the assessment phase of the Smart
Acquisition procurement cycle.
Unlike the US systems described earlier which tend to be provide IMINT for
theatre and strategic intelligence requirements and be large platforms
operated and controlled at high levels of command, the UK focus is at the
other end of the scale for tactical, rapidly deployable systems.
In both
approaches, however, integration allows for the rapid dissemination of data for
targeting purposes.
Specifically, the UK has identified an operational need for a UAV at the
tactical level to address the increasing need for land component commanders’
intelligence requirements to be met for operations across the spectrum of
conflict. The aim is to field a cost effective UAV to complement and integrate
with the other ISTAR assets available to the commanders of manoeuvre
forces. From the ground force commander’s perspective the tactical UAV
offer many advantages, not least of which is “ownership” of the system and
thus guaranteed availability. This gives commanders a confidence they can to
maintain the tempo of operations.
Watchkeeper is designed to support battle groups, brigades and the division,
allowing rapid deployment into the divisional battlespace to produce and
disseminate, via an all informed C4I architecture, high resolution IMINT in
support of decision making and targeting. A multi air vehicle solution would
typically allow endurance in the vicinity of 8 hours for a sub 200kg platform
and up to 18hrs for a larger platform of up to 500kg. A key objective will be for
multi-vehicle solutions to maximise commonality of components as well as
modular sensor payloads. It may be that many tasks can be carried out by
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the smaller of the two platforms, with the larger being reserved for high
performance radar and communications relay payloads as well as future novel
sensors.
A key requirement is for the system to be relatively cheap whilst carrying
sensors with the resolution required for target engagement especially in peace
support and peace enforcing operations where political imperatives require
the positive identification of targets before engagement, an imperative
resulting from lessons learned in operations such as the Balkans. Cheaper
and less complex systems also have utility in that the losses incurred from
flying at lower levels in pursuit of fine grained IMINT have less impact.
The air vehicles can also reach an area of interest quickly in response to
losses because tactical deployment means short transit distances to target
areas.
Coupled with this is the ability to launch and recover air vehicles
without the need for a runway, a short strip being sufficient. Automation of all
phases of flight will reduce the expensive training currently required to operate
a UAV.
Outstanding Issues
The outstanding issue remains the concept of operations. “It will not be hard
to build 12 airplanes that can be used in combat by 2012”, US Airforce Chief
of Staff General John Jumper said in early July 2002.
“The question is
combat where, combat how and in what numbers?”
“We’re working with people right now on ways to control these UCAVs from
other aircraft”.
Deploying UCAVs to theatres 7000 to 8000 miles away is a logistical
challenge. Either they compete for cargo space in large aircraft or inflight
refuelling is necessary.
The current USAF vision is to evolve UCAV from suppression of Enemy Air
Defences to large strike missions.
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“All those things can be worked, but they’re part of a concept of operations
that needs to be more fully developed than what the brochures show you of
these things swarming over a target area dropping weapons,” said General
Jumper.
Disclaimer
The views of the authors are their own. The UK Defence Forum holds no
corporate view on the opinions expressed in papers or at meetings. The
Forum exists to enable politicians, industrialists, members of the armed
forces, academics and others with an interest in defence and security issues
to exchange information and views on the future needs of Britain’s defence. It
is operated by a non-partisan, not for profit company.
2nd revision July 2002
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