Land Warfare 2011: UAVs - operations and aspirations | ADM October 2011
Nigel Pittaway | Melbourne
Australia’s involvement in Afghanistan, and before that the war in Iraq, has exposed the Australian Defence Force to high-intensity Unmanned Aerial Vehicle operations and the thirst for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance information from battlefield commanders in-theatre.
When the ADF first deployed ground troops to Iraq in 2003, it did not possess a battlefield surveillance UAV capability at all. The first to be acquired was the hand-held Elbit Skylark, capable of limited ‘over the other side of the hill’ surveillance, first deployed to Southern Iraq in September 2006. Today it operates the Boeing/Insitu ScanEagle UAV and IAI Heron Remotely-Piloted Aircraft in-theatre and is about to introduce the AAI Shadow 200 Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle system.
Just as importantly, the ADF also has projects on the drawing board to introduce systems, such as the ‘Tier One’ Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Global Hawk for strategic reconnaissance of open ocean and littoral environments over the next decade or so.
Prior to operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the ADF had approved an Airborne Surveillance for Land Operations program (Joint Project 129) in 1997, the result of a consolidation of various Defence surveillance projects a year earlier.
Following a drawn-out competition, Boeing Australia and IAI were declared the winner of JP129 Phase 2 with a solution based around the I-View 250A air vehicle in December 2006. However systems integration issues led to the cancellation of the contract by then Minister of Defence Joel Fitzgibbon in September 2008.
The long gestation period of JP129 saw Boeing and its subsidiary Insitu offer the ScanEagle ‘Tier II’ UAV system to the ADF as a stop-gap measure and it was first deployed to Iraq in 2006, followed by Afghanistan in 2007. ScanEagle had been in-theatre with other operators, notably the US Marine Corps, and was therefore a known capability.
Boeing set up Insitu Pacific Limited (IPL) to support Australian Scan Eagle operations in June 2009 and in June announced it had achieved 25,000 operational flight hours with the ADF in Afghanistan.
Operating the ScanEagle in Afghanistan is the Army’s 20th Surveillance and Target Acquisition Regiment, based at Gallipoli Barracks, Enoggera, and part of the 6th Brigade. One troop, comprising around 25 personnel from the 131st Surveillance and Acquisition Target Battery, is deployed to Tarin Kowt in Oruzgan Province at any given time. The 131st Battery has two troops and this allows one to be undergoing regeneration and training at Enoggera whilst the other is deployed.
ScanEagle has been a great success and has undoubtedly paved the way for the more sophisticated Shadow 200, which will enter service at Tarin Kowt shortly. The Army/IPL team are currently flying up to 880 flight hours and 150 flights each month, in support of the Australian Mentoring Task Force and (indirectly) the Afghan National Army.
Electro-Optical and Infra-Red imagery is fed directly to Battle Group Headquarters and, because it is fully integrated with the coalition ISTAR network, the data received can be disseminated to the wider pool.
Once Shadow 200 becomes operational, ScanEagle will be withdrawn from service with 20 STA, but Defence has flagged other possible uses for the system: “The current contract is due to expire 30 June 2012; however, there are options within the contract for additional periods of service if required,” it says.
Trials of ScanEagle aboard HMAS Melville were conducted off Northern Australia in June, using a heavy fuel version of the air vehicle. “Navy is continuing with the development of embarked UAS procedures through a non contractual co-operative initiative with Insitu Pacific and CASA in anticipation of a future operational requirement for Naval UAV, as foreshadowed in the 2009 Defence White Paper” said a Defence Spokesperson.
“The next stage of the program is scheduled for November on HMAS Leeuwin when the team will concentrate on defining launch / recovery limits and UAS flight operations in non-segregated airspace.”
Given the technological problems with the I-View 250A system, ‘de-risk’ became the mantra of the revamped JP129 program, which was given the brief to look at alternative systems already in operational use with allied forces.
Last August, then Minister Senator John Faulkner announced a $175 deal to acquire the Shadow 200 via the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) route, with an Initial Operational Capability to be achieved by 2013 – but earlier if possible. Two complete systems are being acquired, including eighteen air vehicles, four ground control stations, vehicles, catapult launchers and support systems and training. Each system is required to be air-transportable by RAAF Hercules and compatible with the range of vehicles being acquired under Army’s Land 121 program.
With the brief of providing near real-time reconnaissance imagery whilst performing airborne surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance missions, Shadow uses EO/IR sensors at present but may be equipped with some form of synthetic aperture radar in future upgrades.
“JP129 Phase 2 is a tactical capability required to keep pace with a land-based task force providing intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance support to that task force,” says Defence. “Introduction into Service Training is being conducted primarily in the United States by embedding Australian students in the US Army Unmanned Aerial Systems Training Battalion at Fort Huachuca, Arizona. Sustainment Training will be based in Australia and run by the Australian Army.” Deployment to Afghanistan will occur in December this year.
The Shadow system will have a Life of Type of just ten years, such are the technological advancements in the UAS field and already a third phase of JP129 is underway to ensure the system remains viable (and interoperable) beyond that time.
According to the recently-released update of the Defence Capability Plan, JP129 Phase 3 will be developed “to ensure the ADF is positioned to take advantage of the technological advancements now being made to Unmanned Aerial Systems and payloads, either through upgrading of the Phase 2 (Shadow) capability, or replacement with more advanced capability.”
This upgrade/replacement will be influenced by operational experience gained from Shadow over the next few years and will also be influenced by any changes to Army’s Communications, Command, Control and Intelligence (C3I) philosophy over that time.
The timeline for this project is therefore some way off, currently planned to complete First Pass Approval in the second half of the decade, with a Year of Decision in the early years of the next. IOC is planned for around 2025. The DCP places the acquisition cost at around $300 million and flags Australian Industry Involvement in the Through Life Support phase of the project.
A further phase of JP129 will address replacement of the Skylark UAS, which is no longer deployed to the Middle East Theatre of Operations.
Phase 4 of the program will acquire a new Tier I Small Unmanned Aerial System (SUAS) to provide organic ISR to small land forces, enabling patrolling soldiers to ‘see’ into compounds or over hills or walls.
There are several products on offer for this phase, not least of which is an upgraded version of the Elbit Skylark known as Skylark II. Trials of AeroVironment’s WASP III air vehicle were carried out during Exercise Talisman Saber 2009 and last August, Melbourne-based Sentient Vision announced a teaming arrangement with AeroVironment to bid for Phase 4. Under the agreement, Sentient will integrate its Kestrel overland MTI system with the air vehicle and its sensors.
First Pass Approval is due either later this year or early next year, and is expected to enter service from 2014. Acquisition cost is expected to be less than $100 million and Australian industry is again expected to participate in the TLS of the system.
Arguably the biggest step the ADF has taken in UAV operations so far is however the IAI Heron operations in Afghanistan.
More correctly known as a Remotely Piloted Vehicle, the Heron moves intelligence-gathering capabilities from the tactical to the strategic level. It is a Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) platform, capable of staying airborne for more than 30 hours and operated under RAAF control, marking the first time the air force has operated a remotely-piloted platform in its own right.
In early 2009, the ADFs Joint Operations Command requested an organic ISR capability beyond that provided by ScanEagle or through the coalition information pipeline. In a remarkable example of rapid acquisition, Project Nankeen was formed and, after observing Canadian Forces Heron operations from Kandahar, a lease arrangement with Canadian civilian contractors McDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA) was announced by Senator Faulkner in September that year.
MDA provide a similar arrangement for the Canadian Forces and, at the time of the announcement, it was revealed that RAAF and Army personnel had been training in Canada for two months. The Heron detachment is operated by No.5 Flight, part of the RAAF’s 82 Wing based at Amberley, but is staffed by both Air Force and Army personnel.
The Heron capability is with Air Force due to the way it is flown. “Heron is a remotely piloted air vehicle, meaning it requires aircrew as flight crew to operate safely,” said a Defence Spokesperson in response to ADM’s question. “Air Force has the trained aircrew to operate remote piloted aircraft whereas the smaller unmanned aerial systems may not require aircrew to operate the platform.”
A further reason is that Defence sees ISR as being of paramount importance to the projection and execution of air power, saying “It is appropriate that Air Force, as the air power specialist, operates long endurance ISR platforms which have the ability to span an area of operation.”
McDonald, Dettwiler and Associates own and support the two Heron vehicles at Kandahar and has provided a third for training of personnel in Australia, primarily at Woomera in South Australia.
The initial contract signed with MDA was for a twelve-month period but subsequent extensions have seen this now stretched to the end of the year. Beyond this, Defence says, “There is likely to be a requirement for continued ISR support beyond 2012 at about the same rates of effort.”
Project Nankeen has also provided Australian industry with an opportunity to prove to the world just how innovative Small to Medium enterprises can be, particularly with the assistance of DSTO. Sentient has integrated its Kestrel Overland MTI software into the platform and has earned a great deal of kudos in the process.
In July trials with the third airframe at the Woomera Test Range validated the Airborne UHF Transponder for Radio relay (AUTRY) system. According to Defence, “With AUTRY fitted and the RPA operating at altitude, clear and stable encrypted communications between hand-held radios was verified at ranges well in excess of that required to cover the entire Australian area of operations in Southern Afghanistan.” This now permits communication over long ranges, using UHF instead of satellite communication.
AUTRY hardware is manufactured locally by RF Industries and is the result of eight years of development by DSTO and the Command Control and Intelligence Division. The system has also been sold to the US Army for use on its Aerosonde UAVs.
Although not intended as such, Heron operations are providing the RAAF will a huge amount of corporate knowledge regarding MALE RPA operations, which will be used to effect in the planning for a Multi-Mission Unmanned Aircraft System (MUAS) ISR capability under Air 7000 Phase 1B.
Although still some way off, Phase 1B will acquire the capability for maritime patrol and ISR missions, alongside the Boeing P-8A Poseidon. Although the Northrop Grumman MQ-4C is arguably the front-runner for the role, Defence is keeping its options open: “Australia continues to monitor the development of the BAMS program against Defence’s requirements,” it says. “All available and suitable platforms will be considered during the capability needs analysis phase of the project leading to First Pass consideration.” Up to seven platforms will be acquired.
According to the DCP, Australian industry will be involved in Through Life Support of the system once it enters service and will also participate in the development and implementation of an Integrated Ground Environment for C², Mission Planning, information management and training.
The project is expected to be offered for First Pass consideration between 2016 and 2019 with a Year of Decision around 2020. IOC is planned for somewhere between 2023 and 2025.
Subject: Air