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Objective Force will need a level of ISR unseen before By Roman Schweizer, Defense News Media Group
“You’ve got to have ISR that we haven’t seen before,” according to Charles Christianson, the Army’s assistant program executive officer for intelligence, electronic warfare and sensors. In the future, the Army will need more multi-sensor platforms that provide many different “looks” across the battlefield to sort through thousands of potential targets, he said. Processing data collected by the web of manned and unmanned sensors will demand more automation and integrated networks so that unit commanders get information in time to make “real-time” decisions based on the precise location of both friendly and enemy forces, even down to the small-unit level. “We don’t have persistent ISR everywhere, all the time,” Christianson told an audience of military and industry representatives at the ISR Integration Conference: “Shrinking the Sensor-to-Shooter Cycle,” Nov. 21. But the service is heading that way, he said. “The Army is working hard to resource the vision,” he said in response to a question about the Army’s commitment to pay for the plan established in the service’s long-term modernization strategy. That view is supported by Keith Masback, the service’s director of ISR integration, who said that service spending on ISR is “trending up.” Over the past few years, the service has struggled to allocate its resources to sustain its current, or legacy, forces while at the same time develop its Objective Force. According to Masback, the Army has firmly decided to move toward the Objective Force, as signaled by a $25 billion commitment in resources between fiscal years 2004 to 2009. “There’s no turning back,” he said, adding that service officials have worked hard to follow Chief of Staff Gen. Eric Shinseki’s guidance to provide “irreversible momentum” toward the Objective Force. In order to meet the ISR needs of current and future Army units, Christianson’s organization will press ahead with core programs like the Aerial Common Sensor and the Distributed Common Ground Station-Army, and evolve them as improved technologies are developed. ACS is envisioned as a multi-sensor, multi-platform mix on manned and unmanned aircraft that will provide various types of intelligence data. Teams led by Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman are competing for the program. The winner, expected to be chosen in fiscal year 2003, will then design and develop the system. DCGS-A, a ground terminal that will process data collected by Aerial Common Sensor and other Army ISR sensors and platforms, will be developed in four “spirals” over the next six years. “The focus is on, ‘Let’s get capability to the field,’ ” Christianson said of the program. Beyond those key programs, the service is also looking to develop enhanced sensor packages for unmanned aerial vehicles, such as advanced electro-optical and infrared cameras with laser designators and range finders, signals intercept sensors, and wide-area synthetic aperture radar with moving target indication, Christianson said. The service also will have to continue work to develop small, uncooled night-vision systems for infantry weapons and unattended sensors, he said. Improved ground-based radars that perform multiple functions for air defense, counter-battery fire and air-traffic control also may be necessary. “Things like a multi-mode radar become much more important,” because it will reduce a unit’s “footprint” on the battlefield, he explained. The Army is conducting a science and technology program for the radar. Back |
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coverage Capt. (S) Daniel Clark Duquette Brig. Gen. (S) Frank A. Panter, Jr. |
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