Experts question whether DOD has enough radio bands to support them
Unmanned aerial vehicles are vital to the Defense Department’s net-centric operations, according to the 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review, but the bandwidth essential to supporting them is disappearing.
John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, said DOD’s plans for greater use are unworkable because the portion of the radio spectrum the drones rely on is finite and is rapidly being used up by other commercial and DOD programs.
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Defense officials emphasized the use of UAVs in the QDR after their success in Iraq and Af-ghanistan, where they were run by controllers in the United States.
UAV payload data is used for targeting, bomb damage assessment and intelligence analysis. But experts say DOD must deal with the bandwidth limitations to make this possible.
“For all this QDR talk of ‘network-centric’ and ‘network everything,’ they have a horrible bandwidth crunch—because they’re operating so many of these UAVs beyond line of sight, and they need bandwidth in order to get the sensor data back to the processing center,” Pike said.
He said DOD was “lucky” to have bought from the commercial spot market sufficient bandwidth and transponders in 2001 for initial UAV operations in Afghanistan. But as UAV-driven requirements “increase exponentially,” available bandwidth continues to shrink.
There probably will not be enough bandwidth for the new Global Persistent Strike bomber, Pike said, leaving no choice but to use laser transponders and cross-links to communicate.
“They’d have to use the laser satellite” under the Transformational Communications Satellite program, Pike said.
Source and more info: gcn.com
“THE Armed Forces of the Philippines and the United States Forces very much appreciate the return of the US unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and the combined support of the citizens of Sulu during the ongoing civic-military and humanitarian activities in Sulu,” said Lt. Col. Mark Zimmer of the Public Affairs Office of the Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines For-word.
He said that the “US Forces lost a small UAV, which is a harmless remote control plane used for surveillance for future civic-military projects as well as for enhancing the safety of the AFP, the US Forces, and local civilians.”
Source and more info: sunstar
The Raspet Flight Research Laboratory at Mississippi State is developing an ultra-light, long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle designed to improve U.S. surveillance and communication capabilities for battlefield and border-patrol operations, the university says.
Ground tests and initial manned flight-testing of the UAV prototype - called the Owl because of its quietness - were completed last year. The research lab at Starkville’s Bryan Field is preparing to begin flight-testing the concept demonstrator this summer.
“This program ultimately will result in a platform that can stay aloft for more than 24 hours and eventually be flown at altitudes up to 65,000 feet,” said David Lawrence, Raspet’s director. “Its primary mission is to improve communications on the battlefield, but it may spin off a vehicle for other missions such as homeland security and border patrol.”
Source and more info: clarionledger
A military intelligence unit will try Sunday to make the first U.S. unmanned aerial vehicle flight over this training area.
Company C, 101st Military Intelligence Battalion is at the Vilseck Forward Arming and Refueling Point (FARP) attempting to fly one of its four Shadow UAVs in support of the 1st Infantry Division’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team, which is training at Grafenwöhr.
UAVs are remote-controlled aircraft equipped with cameras and sensors. They are used extensively in Iraq and Afghanistan to provide commanders with up-to-the-minute aerial images of the battlefield.
But Sunday’s flight, if successful, will be the first time a U.S. UAV has flown at Grafenwöhr, according to Company C’s commander, Capt. Jimmy Gaw.
The 35-year-old Corona, Calif., native said the Company C Shadows were used in Iraq when the 1st Infantry Division deployed there from January 2004 to March 2005. The 101st will inactivate in June, but Company C will upgrade to the latest version of the Shadow in March and remain part of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, which is expected to deploy to Iraq later this year, he said.
Company C is made up of the 101st’s most experienced personnel. The 25-man unit includes 15 pilots, each with an average of 600 downrange combat flying hours, Gaw said.
Source and more info: Stars and Stripes
he U.S. has been using UAVs a lot in the search for Abu Sayyaf terrorists in the southern Philippines. Rewards are offered for civilians who return the wreckage of UAVs that crash. Two have been recovered in this way, although in one case the rumor was going around that the wreckage of one UAV was particularly valuable. In fact, the UAVs use off-the-shelf technology, and recovering the wreckage is part of the investigation to find out what design flaw caused the crash, and to fix the flaw. The most commonly used aircraft is the Raven, an under ten pound micro-UAV.
Source: strategypage
The Edwards flightline is the scheduled return landing site for Prototype Global Hawk Air Vehicle No. 3, an unmanned aircraft that has flown 4,245 hours in support of combat operations for Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom and the Combined Task Force-Horn of Africa mission.
This landing event marks the end of a four-year deployment of a contributor to the global war on terrorism and paves the way for the future of unmanned aircraft systems. Through the combination of technology and experienced operators on the ground, this prototype was able to survey vast geographical areas and provide pinpoint accuracy about enemy locations, program officials said.
Source and more info: military.com
The European Defense Agency (EDA) on Feb. 16 awarded a 750,000 euro ($891,000) contract to a consortium led by Sagem to conduct a study on sense-and-avoid technologies that would allow unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to fly in civil airspace, a spokesman for the French systems company said.
The 18-month study will define requirements for equipment and systems that will permit UAVs to safely fly over inhabited areas, and define a protocol for integrating UAVs into current air traffic management systems.
“This is an important study for the preparation of the future insertion of UAVs in civil airspace,” Sagem spokesman Jean-Charles Pignot said.
Sagem will lead a consortium comprising French research institute Onera, Dutch institute TNO and Spanish company Espelsa.
Source and more info: DefenseNews
Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) concluded a series of flights Jan. 5 that demonstrated the weapons-capable MQ-5B Hunter unmanned aerial vehicle’s (UAV) ability to fly more than 21 hours, which is almost a ten-hour increase over the original RQ-5A Hunter UAV.
“The MQ-5B increases our gross take-off weight to 1,950 pounds, providing our forces the capability to perform intelligence-gathering missions exceeding 21 hours using a single unmanned aircraft; or carry significantly more payload weight,” said Lt. Col. Jeff Gabbert, program manager of medium altitude endurance programs for the Army. “The fact that the MQ-5B is integrated into the Army’s One System ground control station offers us interoperability and decreases our training time, enabling us to train our first unit very rapidly as they deploy this greatly improved system in the near future.”
Northrop Grumman accomplished the endurance increase by adding fuel capacity to the Hunter’s center wing area and increasing the efficiency of the air vehicle’s heavy fuel engine.
“An endurance increase of this magnitude means soldiers can keep Hunter aloft much longer, allowing them to gather more intelligence and survey larger areas during a single flight,” said Jim Perry, director of Hunter unmanned aerial systems for Northrop Grumman. “A flight time exceeding 21 hours, coupled with advanced avionics and sensors, makes the MQ-5B the most advanced unmanned aerial system in the Army’s inventory today.”
In addition to increasing the persistence of the Hunter’s intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance mission, the aircraft can carry and deliver weapons, a wide variety of other joint-network sensors, and offers soldiers easy operation and a commonly used fuel for battlefield operations.
Source and more info: shephard
Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) plans to bring its showcase aircraft to the Asian Aerospace Expo in Singapore next Tuesday, according to company officials. The company made its final preparations this week for the show, one of the most important international aviation expos in the world.
IAI will carry out a flight demonstration of its new Heron, an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) which can be fitted with maritime patrol radar systems, electronic intelligence capabilities and other sensors. The Heron is capable of flying up to 40 hours in rough weather at an altitude of up to 30,000 feet. The Israel Air Force recently ordered several Heron systems at a cost of $50 million.
The IAI also plans to show its Bird Eye mini-UAV which has an operational range of six miles and provides over-the-hill reconnaissance. The Australian Defense Forces recently signed a $100 million contract for the system. In addition, the company’s Lahav division will exhibit a vehicle which provides autonomous fence and border protection, the Guardium Unmanned Security Vehicle (USV), which will be used for IDF border patrols by the end of the year.
Source and more info: Israelnn
A farmer has gotten a nearly US$1,000 (euro800) reward for turning over an unmanned U.S. aircraft that crashed on an island where al-Qaida-linked militants are active, U.S. and Philippine officials said Friday.
U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Mark Zimmer said the unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV, was used for typographical study, the safety of roads and security of troops on Jolo island, where American and Filipino soldiers are preparing for annual military exercises later this month.
“The Armed Forces of the Philippines and the U.S. very much appreciate the return of the UAV and the continuing cooperation of the people of Jolo,” Zimmer said.
Cocoy Tulawie, a Jolo council member, said farmers found the plane on Feb. 10 in a coconut field in the island’s Indanan town.
The farmers speculated it may have crashed after hitting a tree because one wing was slightly damaged, he said.
Tulawie said the farmer who returned the plane was paid 50,000 pesos (US$960; euro800).
Earlier this month, Zimmer appealed for the return of the unarmed drone, which he said costs about US$35,000 (euro29,200) and is “one of the platforms we use to assist the armed forces of the Philippines to help improve their counterterrorism capabilities.”
He said the plane went missing in November.
The U.S. military has been training and arming Filipino counterinsurgency forces battling al-Qaida-linked militants, including the Abu Sayyaf, a small but violent group on a U.S. list of terrorist organizations.
Some of the 250 U.S. troops participating in the Jolo exercises, called “Balikatan,” have begun arriving over the last few weeks.
Meanwhile, about 30 U.S. soldiers who took part in another joint military exercise in Carmen town, on nearby Mindanao island, ended their monthlong drills Friday and will leave the country in the next few days, Zimmer said.
Source: Star Publications
