Future missions for unmanned aerial vehicles: exploring outside the box - PIREP - military/air force equipment

Aerospace Power Journal, Summer, 2002 by Earl "Duke" Maj. Odom

Earl "Duke" Odom *

Editor's Note: Established by Gen Ronald R. Fogleman when he was chief of staff the Air Force's Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Battlelab became operational on i July 1997 as part of the original six Air Force battlelabs. The battlelab concept emerged from the Air Force's long-range planning effort and the publication of Global Engagement: A Vision for the 21st Century Air Force. The mission of this battlelab is to rapidly identify and demonstrate the military worth of innovative concepts that exploit unique characteristics of UAVs to advance the Air Force's combat capability. (See the UAV Battlelab Web site at https://intranet.eglin.af.mil/UAVB.)

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THE AIR FORCE'S UAV Battlelab (UAVB) has conducted or is conducting numerous initiatives that demonstrate the military utility of relevant functions that will keep the United States poised to exploit the unique capabilities of the UAV. As UAV mission areas expand from intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR), battlelab initiatives remain on the leading edge, focused on demonstrating increased combat capability. This article briefly identifies some of those accomplishments--the results of exploring outside the box.

The transition of UAVs from ISR platforms to multimission vehicles is a natural progression, just as it was with manned aircraft. Almost unlimited potential exists in areas other than ISR, and the UAVB is defining that potential. For example, the battlelab completed the Global Positioning System (GPS) airborne-pseudolite initiative, which demonstrated the ability to mitigate hostile jamming of GPS receivers while providing them the means to continue to navigate without primary satellite reception. (1)

The battlelab also accomplished its combat-identification initiative, which addressed concerns of fratricide and the ability of the war fighter to identify friendly players and locations. The UAV's situational-awareness data link tied the receivers to a network that included connectivity to properly equipped ground forces; thus, pilots of F-16 aircraft could receive information about the location of friendly troops, which aided them in making attack decisions.

Another initiative known as Spotter showed the military worth of integrating an infrared pointer into a UAV to illuminate targets at night for attack aircraft that employ night-vision goggles. A resounding success, Spotter defined a requirement for an infrared zoom laser illuminator/designator on future Predator UAVs.

Weather UAV, an ongoing initiative that gives UAVs the ability to perform periodic, automated pilot-report weather reporting, addresses a requirement of the Office of the Secretary of Defense's Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Roadmap, 2000-2025: "The reporting of basic meteorological conditions can and should be made an integral part of all future sensor systems acquired for UAVs." (2) The initiative allows for the gathering of weather information in denied and data-sparse areas, enhancing the ability to make informed attack decisions. The sensor on board the Predator UAV reports back via satellite communications and inserts the data into the Nonclassified Internet Protocol Router Network (NIPRNET), which allows access by meteorological and oceanographic centers, air operations centers (AOC), and operational squadrons. This vital information can help determine required sensors for planned attacks, orbit locations for tankers, release ranges, and so forth.

The UAV to Fighter Imagery Relay (UFIR) initiative demonstrated the military utility of using UAVs as communications relays to transfer imagery tasking from an AOC directly to aircraft cockpits and then relay battle-damage-assessment imagery back to the AOC. The Air Force conducted UFIR in conjunction with the United Kingdom's Extendor Operational Concepts Demonstration, an effort to provide "bent-pipe" relay to and from ground forward air controllers (FAC) via UHF or VHF radio. (3) The technology utilized in this initiative can provide a common imagery capability in all tactical platforms, including the F-16, F-15E, and B-1B, as well as Army, Navy, and coalition assets.

Finally, the UAVB has embarked upon a robust initiative called Forward Air Control UAV, a large-scale plan to mount a communications suite composed of FM-UHF-VHF-capable radios, the situational-awareness data link, an imagery-transfer module, and a beacon locater on UAVs for the purpose of augmenting tactical air control parties and airborne FACs. This will allow UAVs to perform three major areas of the FAC mission--air interdiction, close air support, and combat search and rescue--as well as perform target tracking, marking, and/or illumination of designated targets of interest.

Future areas of concentration at the UAVB include suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD) and detection of tactical missile launches. The battlelab also has developed the "electronic-warfare picket," which entails using UAVs for SEAD "umbrella coverage" by utilizing their payloads, transferring information to larger aircraft or processing centers, or launching expendables from UAVs or other platforms.