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The joint nature approach of air/land/sea warfare
As has been shown during more recent participation of European forces in multinational exercises or actions abroad, modern peacekeeping, surveillance, interdiction, and combat operations increasingly embark on tactical data links (TDLs) to provide for the exchange of tactical real-time encrypted data to improve situational awareness. Among them are also increasingly missions to involve coast-guarding, drug enforcement, and customs and policing which rely on a high degree of interoperability and communications links. Because offensive and defensive weapons systems which attack critical targets across the traditional boundaries of air, land, and sea warfare, will likely depend on guidance from networks of sensors and illuminators to involve networked platform sensors, the current vision amongst several major European nations is to embark on improved information distributions approaches like LINK 16/JTIDS (Joint Tactical Information Distributions System). These are providing forces with an enhanced capability to transmit broadband data across a variety of air, sea, and ground-based platforms.
The great challenge is to deploy any of these platforms within in a dedicated network environment to enable longer range around-the-clock surveillance coverage, tracking of multiple targets, and engagement of a multiplicity of targets in the air, at sea, and on land. LINK 16 has since been implemented in most European nations, including Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK. In a recent multinational exercise, FRISIAN FLAG ’08, hosted by the Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNlAF), LINK 16 tactical networks has been extensively utilised to generate a shared situational awareness picture as well as to support C4 functions. Participating in this event were RNlAF and Belgian F-16AM/BM, German F-4 Phantom, French Rafale B/C, and a spectrum of naval ships, support aircraft, and land units.
LINK 16 employing the JTIDS and the “J” message format standard distributes information at a maximum data rate of 50 Kbit/s. Although not significantly changing the LINK 11’s basic concept of TDL information exchange, LINK 16 has several technical and operational improvements to existing TDL capabilities to include an encrypted and jam-resistant format (by using hopping frequency technology) which LINK 11 is lacking, an increased granularity of information exchange, precise participant location and identification, and a reduced data terminal size of which the latter allows installation in combat aircraft in the form of the Multifunctional Information Distribution System (MIDS). In a net-centric experiment, the German Navy conducted interoperability and compatibility testing encompassing LINK 16, whereby one Type F 123 frigate exchanged critical air defence data from networked platform sensors with a land-based Patriot air defence missile emplacement from the German Air Force’s Air Defence Missile Group 24 to provide for synergistic effects in area air and ship self defences, thus enabling a single integrated air picture. The next-generation NATO TDL is LINK 22 which is also referred to as the NATO Improved Link Eleven (NILE). LINK 22 is a multi-national development effort which will provide for a "J" series message standard in a Time Domain Multiple Access (TDMA) architecture over extended ranges, with a maximum transfer rate of 12 Kbit/s.
Green light poised for extended programmes
Unmanned aircraft facilitate on new technologies in the fields of propulsion, intelligence, mission payloads, and launch/recovery which are just four of the major design aspects of the new generation of UAS. This make them ideally suited to be integrated into complex manned/unmanned ISR architectures. The UK Armed Forces has already successfully employed their first WK450 UAS which is based on Elbit Systems’ HERMES 450 tactical UAS. Green light to the long-standing WATCHKEEPER programme was given in 2007, replacing the legacy PHOENIX UAS which has been in constant use with British forces for many years. The WK450 system will perform in the all-weather, persistent ISTAR role within a complementary suite of manned surveillance aircraft (Sentinel R.1 ASTOR) and other unmanned platforms (e.g., MQ-9B REAPER and man-portable DESERT HAWK I+ and BUSTER UAS). The first REAPER aircraft carrying the General Atomics AN/APY-8 LYNX synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and Raytheon’s MTS-B Multispectral Targeting System has been first flown over Afghanistan in October 2007. The aircraft is being operated with the RAF’s 39 Squadron. The PHOENIX UAS to be replaced by the WK450 was extensively used during the Kosovo campaign. Twelve examples were lost in action of which two have been lost to enemy fire. While this UAS was also deployed with 32 Regiment Royal Artillery in Afghanistan in support of the HELMAND TASK FORCE as part of Operation HERRICK alongside troops from 16 Air Assault Brigade, troops were also supported by the Lockheed Martin DESERT HAWK I+ UAS which, as a man-portable, one hour endurance UAS, was used for a variety of tasks such as force protection for convoys and patrols, route clearance, base security, reconnaissance, or target tracking. The 57 Battery is fielding (as per June 2007) six air detachments with four air vehicles per detachment. The DESERT HAWK I+, largely flying at a sub-tactical level in support of company-sized operations, is carrying a miniature camera system delivering high-quality imagery of the battlefield. However, newer reports from Iraq were saying that the UAS deemed unsuitable for operations as the downlink was often jammed by interference from the Iraqi mobile phone network system.
The WK450 system will be a core element of the UK MoD’s NEC strategy, with the WK450 UAS providing continuous around-the-clock surveillance. General Fulton testified to the UK’s Parliamentary Defence Committee in early 2004 that “in terms of effectiveness of UAVs, yes, the Americans made a lot of use of them. The Americans, as we know, have a much greater variety of them and they have developed them much further than we have, but nevertheless, there is a great deal of investment going in this country to improve or to increase the use that we make of them. As far as Phoenix is concerned, Phoenix has been a much maligned equipment in the past, but was identified by General Brims as one of his war winners and he certainly found it extremely useful, with all its known shortcomings.” However, WATCHKEEPER was due to enter service in November 2006. The 2004 Parliamentary Defence Committee reports give a similar time frame. The August 2005 contract signing placed the in-service date at 2010 instead, but the pressure of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan resulted in earlier deliveries of the WK450 UAS to the troops. The UAS began operations in Iraq in July 2007 and was delivered to Afghanistan in September 2007.
MASC – Shrouded in mystery
The UK Royal Navy is actively evaluating a Maritime Air Surveillance Capability (MASC) for its two upcoming aircraft carriers to be constructed under the Future Aircraft Carrier (CVF) programme. Early official MoD statements called for three options for the MASC requirement. These included a rotary-wing solution as offered by an AEW derivative of the AgustaWestland EH101 MERLIN helicopter carrying the Racal-developed (now THALES Defence) Searchwater 2000 pulse-Doppler radar to be transferred from in-service Westland SEA KING Airborne Surveillance and Control (ASaC) Mk7 aircraft, a tilt-wing solution as provided by an AEW derivative of the Bell Helicopter Textron V-22 OSPREY aircraft, and a UK variant of the Northrop Grumman E-2C AHE. Certainly functioning as an interim MASC solution, the ASaC Mk7 could continue service until at least 2018, however, with its systems incrementally upgraded over the coming years. It was also not decided whether the MASC system will have an existing radar like the THALES Defence Searchwater 2000 AEW radar in combination with the Cerberus mission system or a new-generation radar either developed specifically for MASC or already under development for other users such as the E-2C HAWKEYE 2000/AHE-carried Lockheed Martin ADS-18. Lockheed Martin UK announced on 9 May 2006 that it was awarded a contract by the MoD to study the potential of using the EH101 MERLIN helicopter as a platform for both maritime AEW and C2. Under this 15-month programme worth £4.4million, Lockheed Martin UK will lead an industrial team composed of THALES UK and AgustaWestland to develop a viable concept. Interestingly, as an alternative to Northrop Grumman’s AHE, THALES UK suggested that an AEW variant of the venerable Grumman S-2 TRACKER carrier-based ASW aircraft (which first flew in 1952) would be a very cost-effective solution. Other options which were considered for MASC, included a Lighter Than Air Vehicle (LTAV), light aircraft, aerostats (unpowered tethered balloons), gyrodynes, and extremely long-range, land-based UAS.
Among the UAS studied for the MASC project has been the Boeing/Insitu Group SCAN EAGLE fixed-wing UAS system which was virtually evaluated as an auxiliary rigging asset to be controlled by the ASaC Mk7 helicopter. Working with THALES UK and QinetiQ as part of the Royal Navy’s Joint UAV Experimentation Programme (JUEP), the SCAN EAGLE recently flew ten missions over sea which was in support of the UK’s “Trial Vigilant Viper” programme. For the first time, this ship-launched UAS transmitted real-time video imagery to a networked ASaC Mk7 helicopter. During the six months of rigorous testing by Team JUEP off the northwest coast of Scotland, the SCAN EAGLE UAS also demonstrated its ability to take part within a NEC scheme, sharing imagery with naval and strike headquarters hundreds of kilometres away. The Boeing A-160 HUMMINGBIRD WARRIOR also appeared for some time as a candidate for the MASC project. This long-range, high-flying (over 10,000 feet) UAS is being presently tested as a component of the DARPA/Army FCS programme, carrying a large radar aperture for surveillance and targeting in support of Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and other agency needs.
The MASC project, formerly known as the Future Organic Airborne Early Warning System (FOAEW), faced considerable delays in recent months. As the MASC’s Main Gate was originally set for 2009 or 2010, its formal In Service Date (ISD) appears to be currently uncertain due to further funding cuts. There are new speculations whether the new build solution can enter service in 2015, however.
MRA4 – Upgrading the UK’s Nimrod
The Nimrod MRA4 programme, undertaken by BAE Systems as the prime contractor, with Boeing responsible for the tactical command system and FR Aviation Ltd as the key provider of maintenance services for the whole programme, calls for a modification of the NIMROD Mk2 fleet to the MRA4 standard. Underlining the MRA4’s multi-tasking role and its functionality in an NEC environment as a component of the UK’s overall ISTAR force, the aircraft is being equipped with the THALES Defence Searchwater 2000MR multi-mode search radar plus an EOSDS EO surveillance and detection system supplied by Northrop Grumman. This extremely high-performance radar is designed for all-weather operation and optimised to have a high probability of tracking small targets in poor weather.
The MRA4 programme also includes significant improvements in the aircraft’s patrol endurance which is now being quoted at 15 hours and an un-refuelled range of over 9,500 kilometres. The re-built aircraft will have a larger wing carrying advanced Rolls-Royce Deutschland (RRD) BR710 turbofan engines. These are 30 percent more fuel-efficient and 25 percent more powerful than the Rolls-Royce Spey 250 engines they replace. An interesting twist to this story came in earlier this year when, following a series of funding cuts, the current fleet of 21 aircraft will be reduced to twelve pieces. However, the first MRA4 aircraft is expected to enter service with RAF Kinloss around 2010.
Emerging strategic missions
The Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS), now being established as an UAS-only system, has been designed to function together with net-centric, knowledge-based forces. The bottom line is that networked operations will enable individual force elements to identify a target, relay the target’s information to the right C2 headquarters which allows a more rapid sharing of information to act and react to threats. A system like AGS will significantly enhance air-to-ground radar capabilities and precision targeting as well as ISR fusion functions and persistent ISR in support of Predictive Battlespace Awareness (PBA) through the use of advanced sensors and the rapid distribution of information to each position within a theatre of operation.
Other than manned-only systems (e.g., Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JointSTARS), Complesso Eliportato per La Sorveglianza (CRESO), Helicoptere d’Observation Radar et d’Investigation sur Zone HORIZON, and ASTOR), the AGS, in its original composition, was promoted as an important pre-requisite for an increased superiority in weapons systems efficacy on the tomorrow’s battlefield. How to integrate systems like AGS into different service battle networks and how to resolve different approaches to C2 and situational awareness in joint/Coalition operations will be two of the main questions that must be answered long before the envisioned net-centric capabilities may take place, however.
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