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

Earl "Duke" Odom *

Editor's Note: Established by means of Gen Ronald R. Fogleman when he was chief of staff the Air Force's Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Battlelab became operational upon i July 1997 as part of the original six Air Force battlelabs. The battlelab universal emerged from the Air Force's long-range planning effort and the publication of Global Engagement: A Vision for the 21st hundred Air Force. The mission of this battlelab is to rapidly identify and demonstrate the military worth of innovative general [i]or[/i] abstract notions 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 administrationed or is conducting numerous initiatives that demonstrate the military utility of relevant functions that will hold fast 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 upon the leading edge, focused upon demonstrating increased combat capability. This article briefly identifies a certain quantity of 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 complet the Global Positioning a whole (GPS) airborne-pseudolite initiative, which demonstrated the ability to mitigate hostile jamming of GP 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 interests 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 fitly equipped ground forces; thus, pilots of F-16 aircraft could receive information about the location of friendly companys 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 occupy night-vision goggles. A resounding succes Spotter defined a requirement for an infrared zoom laser illuminator/designator upon 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 subsequent time 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 upon board the Predator UAV reports back via satellite communications and inserts the data into the Nonclassified Internet Protocol Router Network (NIPRNET), which allows access through meteorological and oceanographic centers, air operations center (AOC), and operational squadrons. This vital information can help determine required sensors for planned attacks, orbit locations for tankers, release ranges, and in the way that 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 managemented UFIR in conjunction with the United Kingdom's Extendor Operational universals Demonstration, an effort to provide "bent-pipe" relay to and from sod forward air controllers (FAC) via UHF or VHF radio. (3) The technology utilized in this initiative can provide a public 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 on a robust initiative called Forward Air direction UAV, a large-scale plan to mountain a communications suite composed of FM-UHF-VHF-capable radios, the situational-awareness data link, an imagery-transfer module and a beacon locater upon UAVs for the purpose of augmenting tactical air ascendency parties and airborne FACs. This will allow UAVs to perform three major areas of the FAC mission--air interdiction, shut air support, and combat search and rescue--as well as perform target tracking, marking, and/or illumination of designated targets of interest.

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