Launch the Puma!
In an era of constrained resources and increasing naval mission requirements, low-cost ultra-light unmanned aerial systems offer enormous capabilities to the surface fleet. The U.S. Navy is an
expeditionary force whose continued success depends on being always engaged, self-reliant, and adaptable.1 As Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Jonathan Greenert said, the Navy must place warfighting first, operate forward, and be always ready.
The service must fulfill that mandate and dominate wherever it operates. To do that, it must exploit the infosphere smartly, swiftly, effectively, and affordably. The AeroVironment RQ-20A Puma AE (all environment) ultralight unmanned aerial system (UAS) does just that for surface combatants.
Surveillance for the Surface Fleet
Tacticians benefit from monitoring the enemy. The Puma provides much needed information. It offers a ship’s captain an eye-in-the-sky to better assess intent, force composition, and magnitude of incoming surface threats to allow for either engagement or evasion on favorable terms.
To that effect, the USS Benfold (DDG-65) recently tested the UAS. The system demonstrated capabilities addressing the tactical need to better assess the nature of a potential adversary. It also highlighted the notion that not all warfighting readiness enhancements must be expensive, be handicapped by long research-and-development timelines, and be technologically complicated.
Unmanned aerial systems are ubiquitous on the battlefield. In fact, over the nearly 23,000 surveillance missions flown in the first nine months of 2011, UAVs delivered persistent presence in support of ongoing military operations.2 The vehicles’ frequent use is evidence of their effectiveness and utility to ground troops. It is a capability sorely needed on surface combatants at sea.
Naval surveillance requirements exist in both oceanic and littoral environments. They vary from broad-area maritime-surveillance needs addressed by expensive and complex systems such as Global Hawk, to short-range, tactical, quick-response demands better addressed by smaller, simpler, and more economical aircraft like the Puma.
Although high-end systems have proved their worth, smaller unmanned systems must not be overlooked in the face of expanding operational requirements and shrinking budgets. What the surface fleet needs to complement complex and expensive systems is an affordable, rugged, simple, easy-to-repair, easy-to-fly, unmanned aerial system. The Puma fits the bill.
A third-generation UAS made by AeroVironment designed for land and maritime operations, this versatile aircraft offers operators the ability to land on any rugged surface—including water—making it ideal for maritime use.
The hand-launched battery-powered Puma is quiet and difficult to spot at altitude. It can be loaded with electro-optical and infrared cameras and has a 15km range. It can be launched in a matter of minutes, flown to a desired location, loiter over targets of interest, and deliver real-time high-resolution images.
The Benfold tested the Puma against simulated small boat attacks. The system proved superb in providing a clear picture almost instantly. The airborne vantage point provided data to ascertain inbound crafts’ intentions with great effect. The system was also used to monitor a visit, board, search, and seizure (VBSS) exercise with similar results.
In its ability to be recovered on both land and water, be nearly undetectable, durable, and compatible with the destroyer’s radio frequency, the tested system proved effective in exploring and exploiting the battlespace.
As an added advantage, the Puma is a battle-proven program of record. Special Operations Command employs it and has awarded a $65.5 million firm-fixed-price contract delivery order for new Pumas. It is another buy under an existing $200 million procurement contract.3 The Army and the Navy Expeditionary Combat Command also use this system. The next logical step is for it to deploy on surface combatants.
Adaptability on the Offense
To validate the compatibility of a light UAS at sea, the Benfold conducted seven Puma missions off the Southern California coast. Test flights validated the system as a viable solution for the surface fleet.
As an early variant of the Arleigh Burke–class destroyer, the Benfold has neither organic helicopter support nor associated aerial surveillance capabilities. For her and those like her, the Puma is an affordable game changer.
Nonetheless, the system does have limitations.
With a two-hour endurance and a 15km range, the vehicle’s reach falls short of that of an SH-60 Seahawk. However, the three aircraft included in the basic package can be continually rotated to persistently gather intelligence, provide reconnaissance, and transmit target data to its operator. Even ships with embarked helicopters can deploy the system to obtain short-range, short-order surface surveillance with little risk to aircrews.
In testing, the Puma proved effective against simulated small boat attacks. Operators were able to determine the nature of the threat, the composition of the crew, and the presence of weapons. The information was fed in real time to the ship where it increased situational awareness, decreased decision-making time, and reduced decisional errors. The impact this capability has in high-threat, low-reaction-time littoral environments is enormous.
With the Puma, surface combatants can make more accurate and timely hostile-intent determinations to either avert an unnecessary engagement or consummate one more confidently. It is an informational quantum leap at sea.
The tested system also validated its value during VBSS exercises. The aircraft was launched well ahead of boarding evolutions and enabled the Benfold to relay threat information to the boarding team. Once the VBSS team boarded a training merchant vessel, the Puma persistently monitored the vessel from above where it gathered and transmitted high-definition, close-in views of the tactical situation, and provided 360-degree coverage over the target. It also supplied the boarding team with up-to-the-minute intelligence. Here, too, the benefits to the warfighter are difficult to overstate.
With further investment, the Puma can also be employed for kinetic effect by pairing it with lethal armed drones, like the Switchblade system, or a manned attack aircraft. The system can perform aerial spotting in shore bombardment missions as well. It is a capability whose utility is only limited by the constraints of the imagination.
Affordable Self-Reliance
Although a joint force asset, as a ballistic-missile-defense ship, the Benfold is almost guaranteed independent operations. It must therefore be ready to respond to a wide range of demands with little or no outside assistance. Those demands manifest themselves often in or near the littorals where low-intensity missions such as counterpiracy, maritime-interception operations, oil-platform protection, and humanitarian operations rule.
The improved tactical surveillance capabilities that come with the Puma allow the ship and her operational commanders increased flexibility in support of unconventional or low-intensity missions. The Puma enhances low-end maritime capabilities and allows both the on-scene tactical commander and operational commanders at maritime operations centers greater flexibility and capability to obtain high-value intelligence at low cost.
As an added benefit, the system is simple and easy to use. Just about any sailor can be trained to operate it. The operator training curriculum takes about two weeks, and our sailor picked it up as naturally as he would a typical video game. It was no surprise—the controller was designed to resemble a SONY PlayStation or Microsoft Xbox controller.
Manning should be a consideration as well. Unlike some of the more complex systems, such as Scan Eagle, no additional personnel are necessary on board ship to operate the UAS. Puma has a small footprint, it is easy to use, and affordable. When compared with Northrop Grumman’s $16 million MQ-8 Fire Scout or $180 million RQ-4 Global Hawk, the $350,000 Puma is a smart buy.4
Operational Flexibility
Over the past decade, the Navy has learned—or relearned—that new and evolving threats emerge with little or no warning. Low-end threats such as piracy, terrorism, small-boat attacks, and trafficking continually challenge the freedom of the seas. Operational flexibility is vital to naval operations.
The attention focused on larger and longer-range UAS such as Global Hawk and Fire Scout has eclipsed the potential of much smaller and cheaper vehicles capable of supporting surface combatants as well as amphibious ships and the Marines they support. For them the need to explore and exploit the enemy is vital. The Puma addresses that need.
In this era of expanding threats and shrinking budgets we do need to put warfighting first, operate forward, and be always ready. But we must do so smartly and affordably. It would be tactically and fiscally prudent to acquire simpler and readily available aerial surveillance systems and deploy them at sea. Indeed, the time has come for surface warriors to launch the Puma!
1. Roger W. Barnett, Navy Strategic Culture, Why the Navy Thinks Differently (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2009).
2. Noah Schachtman, “Flying Spy Surge: Surveillance Missions Over Afghanistan Quadruple,” Wired, 19 October 2011, www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/10/flying-spy-surge/.
3. “Puma AE: An ‘All Environment’ Mini-UAV,” Defense Industry Daily, 19 June 2012, www.defenseindustrydaily.com/Puma-AE-An-All-Environment-Mini-UAV-04962/.
4. “Analysis of the Fiscal Year 2012 Pentagon Spending Request,” Cost of War, National Priorities Project, 15 February 2011 http://costofwar.com/en/publications/2011/analysis-fiscal-year-2012-pentagon-spending-request.