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The U.S. defense establishment cur- fently is developing a series of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), to perform several missions that heretofore required manned aircraft. The Navy—which strongly opposed such unmanned or drone” vehicles during the 1970s and early 1980s—should benefit significantly.
Unmanned aircraft have several advantages:
^ They do not risk a pilot for dangerous missions.
^ They can be operated in weather unsuitable for manned aircraft.
^ They can be flown from ships too small f°r conventional aircraft.
^ They are versatile, being suitable for reconnaissance, gunfire spotting, weapons delivery, weapons guidance, electronic eountermeasures, communications relay, electronic intelligence, etc.
In some situations, UAVs also can provide a high degree of stealth to military operations, having very low signatures. Hut the extensive U.S. UAV program is troubled by confusion over roles and mis- Slons and budgetary constraints.
The current Department of Defense Program seeks to provide four sets of operational vehicles: close-range UAV, short-range UAV, medium-range UAV, and endurance UAV (see accompanying b°x for characteristics). In addition to these vehicles, the Marines also are interested in an expendable UAV that caries a communications jammer. Currently under development by the Marine Corps, this vehicle may be a variant of the &QM-147A drone.
Navy shipboard requirements for UAVs are not clear, however, in part be
cause of the demise of the four Iowa (BB-61)-class battleships, a preferred UAV launch platform. In mid-1990 the Navy stated a requirement for a maritime UAV that would have little in common with the other vehicles.
The DoD UAV unified plan, administered by a joint (multi-service) program office within the Naval Air Systems Command, reflects an attempt to provide a family of standard aerial vehicles applicable to several services and several roles.1 This coordinated program replaces a variety of separate service efforts, some of which were failures—like the Army’s long-duration Aquila project—and some of which were highly successful—like the Navy-Marine Corps’ Pioneer project.
Previously, the armed forces had made extensive use of target and reconnaissance drones, the latter usually of a highly classified (black) nature. These recce drones were used in large numbers by the Air Force in the Vietnam War.2 Also, in the 1960s the Navy had a large drone program known as DASH (drone antisubmarine helicopter). Although the drones—designated DSN and, after 1962, QH-50—were successful aerial vehicles, problems with training and operating procedures caused a large number of losses. The DASH project was terminated (and U.S. ASW ships were left without helicopters until the LAMPS program was initiated in the early 1970s). The Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force, however, continued to employ DASH vehicles, and several were employed for gunfire spotting for the battleship New Jersey (BB-62) during her brief service in the shore bombardment role off South Vietnam in 1968.
During the 1970s and early 1980s the U.S. Navy resisted proposals for drones, except for use as target vehicles. However, after the extensive use of remotely piloted vehicles (RPVs) by the Israelis in the 1982 invasion of Lebanon, especially against antiair gun and missile systems in the Bekaa Valley, then-Secretary of the Navy John Lehman directed that the Navy seriously look into pilotless aircraft.
As a result, in January 1984 the Navy ordered a Mistaff III drone system produced by Tadiran Israeli Electronics, Ltd., for gunfire spotting. In June 1984 the Marine Corps established the 1st RPV Platoon at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, to evaluate and operate the Mistaff RPVs in support of Marine requirements. The first shipboard launching of an Israeli Mastiff occurred in March 1984, from the helicopter carrier Guam (LPH-9), with Israeli controllers operating the drones. Subsequent Marine Corps trials were carried out in February 1986 on board the helicopter carrier Tarawa (LHA-1).
Subsequently, the Navy awarded a contract to provide the fleet with the Israeli-developed Pioneer RPV. This vehicle was used extensively from ashore and from the battleships Missouri (BB-63) and Wisconsin (BB-64) in the Gulf War. The Marine Corps sent its three RPV companies to Saudi Arabia for the Gulf War, with the Army also deploying a UAV platoon to the theater. The Navy assigned detachments from squadron VC-6 to the battleships to operate Pioneers from those ships. Each of these six units had about five aircraft and 40 personnel assigned. According to the DoD final report on the Gulf War (April 1992): “The Navy Pioneer UAV system’s availability exceeded expectations. Established sortie rates indicated a deployed unit could sustain 60 flight hours a month.”
The Pioneer’s payload is 100 pounds and, at the time of the Gulf War, the drone was fitted with a daylight television camera or, alternatively, a forwardlooking infrared (FLIR) sensor. The existing control/data link is a C-band system, resistant to jamming, with a range of 100 nautical miles.
During the Gulf War, from 16 January to 27 February 1991, some 40 Pioneer UAVs flew 552 sorties for a total mission duration time of 1,641 hours. At least one Pioneer UAV was airborne at all times during Operation Desert Storm. The vehicles were employed to adjust naval gunfire and for battle damage assessment, surveillance, and force coordi-
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roceedings / February 1993
UAV Characteristics
The basic requirements for the new UAV programs are: >■ Close-range UAV: Small, easy-to-assemble, a minimum radius of about 18.5 miles, and in the 200-pound class. Intended primarily for “over-the-hill” reconnaissance, these will be relatively inexpensive (roughly $20,000 each). The Marine Corps and Army will procure this vehicle.
> Short-range UAV: Fitted with daytime television and forward-looking infrared (FLIR) sensor, with a radius of at least 93-186 miles and weighing roughly 1,000 pounds. Endurance will be six hours. The vehicle will be used by both the Marines and Army, with a total of 53 systems to be procured between fiscal 1995 and 1998.
► Medium-range UAV: A vehicle designated BQM-145A is being procured for this role. It will carry FLIR, an infrared line-scanning device, and meteorological sensors. Fabricated of fiberglass and composites, the air- or ground- launched UAV will have a range of 806 miles, a maximum speed of 562 m.p.h., and a launch weight of 1,950 pounds. This Teledyne Ryan-produced UAV will enter service in the mid-1990s with the Army, Air Force, Marine Corps, and possibly the Navy.
>• Endurance UAV: This will be a vehicle with at least a 24-hour loiter time.
nation. On 27 February a drone detected two small Iraqi boats fleeing Faylaka Island. Navy attack planes were called in and destroyed the craft, believed to be carrying Iraqi secret police. Subsequently, hundreds of Iraqi soldiers on Faylaka Island surrendered to a drone from the Missouri, which was circling over the island after a bombardment of Iraqi positions. Apparently the soldiers knew that their detection by the drone would be followed by air or naval gunfire attack. It was history’s first known surrender of troops to an unmanned vehicle.
The following summary of Pioneer sorties was complied by the Navy:
Unit | Sorties Hours | |
VC-6 Det. 1 in the Wisconsin | 100 | 342.9 |
VC-6 Det. 2 in the Missouri (commenced operations 26 September 1990) | 64 | 209.7 |
2d Marine RPV Company (operations 27 November- 1 March 1990) | 69 | 226.6 |
3d Marine RPV Company | 147 | 380.6 |
U.S. Army UAV Platoon3 (commenced operations 2 February 1991) | 48 | 150.8 |
Twelve Pioneers were destroyed the conflict: | during | |
Airframe/engine failures | 6 |
|
Electromagnetic interference | 3 |
|
Operator error | 2 |
|
Enemy fire 1
Eight of these losses were from the ten Pioneers embarked in the two battleships. In addition, 14 vehicles were damaged during Desert Storm (all repairable):
Operator error 6
Engine/general failure 3
Enemy gunfire 3
Electromagnetic interference 2
Also during the Gulf War, at the start of air operations, the U.S. Air Force launched 38 Northrop BQM-74C Chukar target drones into Iraq, and the Navy launched a number of tactical air- launched target decoys (TALDs) from aircraft. These caused the Iraqis to turn on their radars, which then were attacked by U.S. radar suppression aircraft—Air Force F-4G Wild Weasels and Navy EA- 6B Prowlers armed with HARM missiles. The BQM-74C drones were ground launched, while carrier-based A-6E Intruders air-launched the TALDs.
On the ground, the Marines also flew a number of small, lightweight FQM-151 Pointer and Brandebury Exdrone vehicles during the Gulf War, for tactical reconnaissance. The FQM-151 Pointer is a very-low-cost, hand-launched UAV resembling a model aircraft. It is man- portable, with the entire system carried in two backpacks—one with the air vehicle (45 pounds) and one containing the control unit (50 pounds). The Pointer’s sensor payload is a black-and-white television camera using an 8-mm video cassette; it can be modified to carry a chemical agent detector. The system can be fully prepared for flight in about five minutes, and flight endurance is more than one hour.
A variety of UAVs now are being flight-tested and evaluated. The Air Force recently demonstrated a possible solution for two major problems revealed during the Gulf air war: the lack of updated target information and the inability to obtain immediate bomb damage assessments. In a recent Green Flag electronic exercise at Nellis Air Force Base (AFB) in Nevada, two modified BQM-34 Fire- bee drones were used for real-time intelligence collection in Project Argus.4
After launching from a DC-130 Hercules aircraft, the drones slipped in between flights of aircraft engaged in the exercise to photograph air fields and missile sites. A datalink instantly transmitted the images of the targets to a ground station 150 miles away, where they were processed and then relayed to an EC-130 Hercules that was controlling the drones and to the Air Warfare Center at Eglin AFB in Florida—all within seconds.
When this column was written, the newest to enter the DoD evaluation program were two Eagle Eye surveillance vehicles for potential Navy use. The Eagle Eye is a tilt-wing/rotor vehicle, based partially on the Bell-Boeing Pointer UAV that first flew in November 1988 (not related to the Marines’ Pointer vehicle). Two flight Eagle Eye demonstration vehicles now are being developed by Bell Helicopter/Textron as part of the DoD UAV program.
Several other UAV candidates have been proposed for Navy and Marine use by U.S. and foreign firms. Some of the more promising vehicles include the Canadiar Sentinel (which resembles a peanut with contra-rotating propellers), the Israel Aircraft Industry-TRW short- range Hunter (developed from the Pio' neer), and the McDonnell Douglas Sky Owl. The Sentinel already has been flown from U.S. Navy ships.
Regardless of the specific UAV systems procured, the Navy and Marine Corps increasingly will employ unmanned aerial vehicles in future combat and peacekeeping operations.
'In 1987 the NATO Naval Armaments Group established a special working group to establish UA^ requirements for small ships. See David R. Ramey- “Making Use of Unmanned Air Vehicles,” U.S- Naval Institute Proceedings, February 1989, pp. 105108.
'From August 1964 through June 1975, the Aif Force’s 100th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing fie"' 3,435 combat sorties with the Teledyne Ryan-produced AQM-34 “Buffalo Hunter” drone. Adapted from a target drone, the vehicle was used for photographic and electronic reconnaissance over North and South Vietnam.
'Assigned to the U.S. Army 82d Airborne Division- JSee David A. Fulghum, “UAVs Prove Real-Time Intelligence Concept,” Aviation Week & Space Technology, 2 November 1992, p. 48.
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