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Army preparing requirements to ensure By Gail Kaufman, Defense News Media Group
The UAV report will be submitted to Gen. John Keane, Army vice chief of staff, January 8, according to an Army requirements official. “We’re looking at the commanders’ needs are at every echelon. In turn, we will develop capabilities which will be needed at each [level],” said Army Col. Steven Nichols, system manager for UAVs and the Aerial Common Sensor program at Training and Doctrine Command, Fort Monroe, Va. At Defense News Media Group’s ISR Integration Conference: “Shrinking the Sensor-to-Shooter Cycle” Nov. 21, Nichols told industry and military representatives that the Army has come a long way with its UAV programs since just last year. At that point, the service was focused on fielding one UAV, the Shadow 200, to support Army brigades. During the summer, the Shadow — built by AAI Corp. of Hunt Valley, Md. — became one of the first UAVs to successfully complete initial operational test and evaluation. Although the UAV requirements report will not be released publicly, Nichols said industry will get a clearer set of parameters in a revised operational requirements document for the service’s Future Combat System. Nichols said the FCS ORD, which includes manned and unmanned programs, is being updated and is slated for review by the Army’s Requirements Oversight Committee early next year. John Sundberg, deputy program manager for the tactical UAV program office in Huntsville, Ala., said one of the requirements being reviewed in the UAV study is for the Extended Range/Multi-Purpose UAV, which will eventually replace the Hunter UAV used at the division and corp level. The Army is expected to release a request for proposal in 2003 or 2004 and field the system by 2006. In the meantime, the service is planning to deploy the Hunter to III Corps at Fort Hood, Texas, XVIII Airborne Corps at Fort Polk, La., and a training base at Fort Huachuca, Ariz. The Hunter, which was built by TRW Inc., Cleveland, was canceled in 1996. As a result, the service only bought seven low-rate initial production systems, which include about 3 to 4 air vehicles and ground control equipment. During the summer, the Army launched Brilliant Anti-Tank submunitions off the Hunter, hitting several moving targets at White Sands Missile Range, N.M. “The Hunter turned out to be a really great system and probably never should have been terminated,” Sundberg said. While the service is solidifying requirements, the Army is also moving forward with one operational initiative to have UAVs work directly with manned assets on the battlefield. In the Hunter Standoff Killer Team Advanced Technology Demonstration Program, the Army is developing technology to allow UAVs to work closely with manned information-gathering aircraft and helicopters. The program began in 2001 and is expected to run through 2006. Boeing Co. in Chicago, and Lockheed Martin in Bethesda, Md., have been contracted to integrate the necessary sensors and data links on board the aircraft and ground stations beginning in 2003. By 2004, the program will undergo a live demonstration at Fort Hood, Texas, and another in 2005 with U.S. Forces Korea, according to Keith Arthur, team lead for teaming and intelligent systems at the Army Aviation Applied Technology Directorate at Fort Eustis, Va.
The Defense News Media Group includes the weekly Defense News, the monthly Armed Forces Journal, and the bimonthlies Training & Simulation Journal and ISR Journal, which organized the Nov. 20-21 conference. Back |
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coverage Capt. (S) Daniel Clark Duquette Brig. Gen. (S) Frank A. Panter, Jr. |
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