Aerial Common Sensor

Army,  Jan 2004  by Gourley, Scott R

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As these pages go to press, source selection is slated to be under way for the aerial common sensor (ACS) to serve as the Army's airborne ISR (intelligence/surveillance/reconnaissance) system and replace the current Guardrail common sensor and airborne reconnaissance low systems.

It will expand the capabilities of these systems into a system that is rapidly deployable, tailorable and scalable to meet the needs of the land component commander.

The ACS SIGINT (signals intelligence) subsystem will be capable of providing precision targeting, imaging and geo-location within the Corps' area of responsibility and will use DCGS-A (distributed common ground system-Army) as its ground system.

The IMINT/MASINT (imagery intelligence/measurement and signal intelligence) subsystems incorporated will be capable of supporting the full range of missions from peacekeeping to full military operations. In addition, both the ground and airborne subsystems will be capable of controlling and exploiting unmanned aerial vehicle mission payloads enabling the land component commander's persistent surveillance of the battlespace.

The ACS system will be composed of manned airborne collection platforms, ground-based exploitation facilities, wideband data link(s), a robust and tailorable communications capability and a satellite remote capability.

The ACS platform will initially be fielded by the U.S. Army with follow-on acquisition expected by the U.S. Navy, as a replacement for its EP-3E Aries II (airborne reconnaissance integrated electronic system II) aircraft now based on the Orion P-3 airframe.

In January 2000, the government announced its intent to enter into the concept exploration (CE) phase of the ACS acquisition. Three competing industry teams were selected and completed CE early the next year. The government subsequently down-selected to two contractors to enter into the component advanced development (CAD) phase for the purpose of further demonstrating technologies and reducing program risk before the pending system development and demonstration phase.

Although Army representatives note that the ongoing solicitation/proposal/ down-select process is part of a "full and open competition," two major industry teams-led by Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin-briefed their ACS concepts during the recent AUSA Annual Meeting.

Representatives for Northrop Grumman Corporation announced the addition of Gulfstream Aerospace, a unit of General Dynamics, to their ACS team.

The announcement marked the selection of Gulfstream's newest aircraft, the G450, as the team's ACS RC-20 platform. (RC-20 is the military derivative of the G450.)

"One of the things that has been key to this program has been selecting the airplane," said Bill Adams, Vice President of Airborne Surveillance, Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems. "We have spent a considerable amount of time completing our three years of CAD studies and doing many, many trades to get to this decision."

Noting that both Army and Navy requirements mandated very robust aircraft and mission systems performances, he highlighted the team's understanding of user needs, adding that the G450 aircraft selection not only meets current requirements but also meets the team's anticipation of future "Objective" requirements.

Team members characterized the G450/RC-20 as a "total mission improvement" over its G4 and G400 predecessors, describing the base platform as "the most technologically advanced business jet in its class."

"We believe our RC-20 platform is the perfect complement to the world class electronic systems that Northrop Grumman and its partners will put on the aircraft for the Army," said Buddy Sams, Senior Vice President, Government Programs, Gulfstream/GD. "We also think this is the team that's going to offer the complete package, to the Army and the Navy."

Acknowledging their understanding that "we know this is not an airplane program," Sams highlighted the team's belief that "the platform is as essential as any other aspect to overall system success."

"In today's intelligence, surveillance and recon[naissance] world, the platform has to have a lot of robust characteristics to be effective. It has to have the altitude, speed and range, and it has to have the time on station. We think these are all key differentials that set us apart from the competition on this program," he said.

In July 2003, Lockheed Martin announced the addition of Harris Corporation and Embraer to its ACS team. The Embraer addition signified the selection of the ERJ145/EMB145 regional jet as the candidate aircraft platform for Lockheed Martin's ACS team. (Embraer recently announced that the aircraft will be produced in Jacksonville, Fla.)

Team members highlighted the platform selection during the AUSA Annual Meeting. "It's very important to understand that ACS is a total system package," emphasized Wes Colburn, Deputy Vice President, ISR Systems, Lockheed Martin. "The airframe is the bus to get us there, to sustain us there, to ensure that we are available to meet ACS tasks. So you have to think of ACS as a total mission system package."