Needles in the Haystack: hunting mobile electronic targets

Air & Space Power Journal, Spring, 2003 by Maj Michael Pietrucha

There are other uses for cheap, expendable remote sensors. Small and micro unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) are often considered as part of an airborne net, but their usefulness need not be as limited as their airborne endurance. If the sensors aboard these tiny aircraft survive the inevitable crash (as they could be designed to do) after the UAV ran out of fuel, they could provide an additional enhancement to a distributed sensor net. If one of the MALDs used in the illustrated scenario had a data link and an ELINT sensor, it could have popped up above the mountains and sampled the electronic environment for the F-15Es. A cheap, expendable MALD will not have the ability to locate the threat, but it could see which signals are "on the air." Then, the Strike Eagles could have unmasked their ES sensors, knowing which threats to look for.

Conclusion

The scenario above is entirely notional. The F-15E does not currently have the RWR to make this vision a reality In fact, no US combat aircraft has the sensor array described above; the MALD is not fielded; and the small, unattended sensors described do not exist. Having said that, they are not beyond our technical or financial reach--especially given the high stakes.

While this article concentrates on air defenses, there is a requirement to engage varying classes of time-sensitive targets (TST). Putting sensors and shooters as far forward as possible applies the air-to-air model to attacking certain surface targets. F-15s today are capable of individually detecting, identifying, and engaging hostile aircraft and cruise missiles--very fleeting targets.

There is a demonstrated need to be able to counter enemy air defenses rapidly in any air campaign. The core capability to detect and locate the threat must be based on the strike aircraft, with additional enhancements built upon that solid core capability. The increased proliferation of advanced, highly mobile, and lethal SAM and radar systems makes targeting these systems extremely problematic. SAMs are a very special subset of TST because they shoot back; they must be detected in a timely fashion, rapidly and precisely located, and targeted in the shortest possible time. Off-board sensors suffer from the disadvantages associated with their distance from the battlefield. The use of a distributed network of ES sensors that not only includes, but relies on, strike aircraft could extend the reach of a typical ISR constellation to the heart of the battlefield, where it is most needed and useful. The ability to detect, locate, and subsequently suppress and destroy enemy air defenses is vital to the US armed force s' ability to conduct air operations in defended airspace, and we must make good use of all of our available assets.

Herndon, Virginia

Notes

(1.) Any radar transmission.

(2.) The SA-6 Gainful missile was guided by a continuous-wave illumination beam that the Israeli and US RWRs of the time period did not detect. Egyptian Gainfuls capable of engaging targets at very low altitudes wreaked havoc among the Israeli strike fighters, who up to then had little respect for Arab defenses.