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TACTICAL RECONNAISSANCE: UAVS VERSUS MANNED
AIRCRAFT
A Research Paper
Presented To
The Research Department
Air Command and Staff College
In Partial Fulfillment of the Graduation Requirements of ACSC
by
ii
LIST OF TABLES . ... 1
UAVs In Tactical Reconnaissance Today. ... 3
CAPABILITIES OF MANNED AIRCRAFT AND UAVS. ... 11
THE EMERGING RMA AND ITS EFFECT ON THE NEEDS OF TACTICAL
RECONNAISSANCE. ... 15
INTEGRATION OF INTELLIGENCE NEEDS AND TACTICAL DOCTRINE . ... 23
Cost Benefit of UAVs. ... I selected the role
of tactical reconnaissance as UAVs offered the greatest promise in that area. ...
vi
AU/ACSC/0349/97-03
Abstract
Ever since the Isrealis demonstrated how Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) could
be effectively used in operations, interest in UAVs has intensified. Following their
successful employment on the battlefield in Desert Storm, technology has driven the
development of more capable UAVs. The major improvements in UAVs in recent years
have been in the role of tactical reconnaissance. ... When employed in an efficient manner, the inherent
qualities of expendability and low cost make the UAV capable of significantly
complementing manned aircraft platforms in the role of tactical reconnaissance. ... While the results of these initial tentative steps are of interest
to serious historians our focus shifts to the era of development since the early sixties when
the United States began to deploy unmanned platforms operationally in the reconnaissance
role. ... The ordering of high
altitude reconnaissance flights over the Soviet Union entailed the risk of having an aircraft
shot down and this spurred the development of early RPVs of the Teledyne Ryan family. ... The B version was designed for high altitude
reconnaissance while the C version was modified for electronic intelligence (ELINT)
work. The first strategic reconnaissance squadron using the Ryan 147 series was declared
operational in 1963 and was extensively used following the Gulf of Tonkin incident in
2
1964. Early teething troubles apart, the missions validated that UAV operations in the
roles of reconnaissance and signal intelligence (SIGINT) were possible and that the
political fallout of downed manned aircraft could be avoided. ... 2 The payloads evolved over the war to include photographic cameras,
electronic reconnaissance equipment, chaff, and night reconnaissance equipment.
During the operations in the Far East the survivability question was answered by the
development of higher flying UAVs with greater range and endurance. ... 3
The development of newer and more sophisticated air defense systems raised new
questions about the survivability of UAVs until the successful Israeli demonstration of the
flexibility of use of truly small size UAVs (being inherently stealthy because of size) in
Bekaa Valley. ...
UAVs In Tactical Reconnaissance Today
In spite of the initial problems of Predator operations in Bosnia (three Predators have
crashed to date)6 the system has provided enough intelligence to enforce the peace for
over a year at the time of writing this paper. With the follow on developments of the Tier
II-plus and Tier III-minus UAVs (described later) using cheap commercially available
technology the unmanned platform is evolving into a reliable system. This evolution of the
unmanned aerial vehicle into a mature platform capable of diverse tasks make it capable of
significantly complementing manned aircraft in the tactical reconnaissance role. ... , 65-73
3William Wagner Lightning Bugs and other Reconnaissance Drones (Aero
Publishers, 1982), 213. ...
4
Chapter 2
Capabilities of Manned Aircraft and UAVs
As we search for that correct balance we can neither adopt the unrealistic
assumption that nothing has changed nor the historically naive position
that everything has changed [emphasis in original]
—The Air Force and US National Security:
Global Reach–Global Power
Technically it is possible to fly almost any manned aircraft by “remote control” indeed
many aircraft have been converted into single flight target drones for practice to missile
and gun crews after their service life is over. ... This fundamental
difference has led to two different approaches on how to solve the reconnaissance problem
and has prompted the question—which approach is better?
5
Manned Aircraft
Though reconnaissance was the first military task performed by an airplane there have
been few aircraft that have been designed purely for reconnaissance in the post World War
II era. ... This led to high cost and increased
mission support making them suitable mainly for the purpose of strategic reconnaissance.
Rarely could these national assets be spared or coordinated for tactical reconnaissance
tasks.
In the field of tactical reconnaissance—on which this paper focuses—the preferred
solution was modification of existing fighter designs by fitting internal or podded specialist
sensors or equipment. ... The RAAF has even set
the stage for a dual role tactical reconnaissance-strike aircraft type by the manner in which
it has modified and the way it employs the RF-111C. ... 1 Similarly a TARPS (Tactical Airborne
Reconnaissance Pod System) equipped F-14 with its complement of four air-to-air missiles
and 20mm “Gatling” gun is not a reconnaissance aircraft you want to pick a fight with!2
The development and retro-fitting of ‘near real-time’ capable systems that are able to
record data in D-500 format and transmit digitized images over existing HF/UHF radio
communications systems to ground receiving stations has enhanced the capability of
manned aircraft in the tactical reconnaissance role manifold. ... A case in point is the learning curve
required on USAF F-111 squadrons beginning with ‘Strike Day’ followed by ‘Strike
Night’ before transitioning to reconnaissance roles. ...
Another factor that complicates the mission is that reconnaissance is frequently
required in a hostile environment and ‘alone, unarmed, and unafraid’ aircraft are always at
risk of being lost to enemy hostile action. This is especially true in the pre-hostilities phase
when the reconnaissance requirement is acute and the enemy air defenses are at full
capacity and on alert status. ...
Intelligence needs today differentiate between the terms reconnaissance and
surveillance. ... 6
Today’s UAVs employ the latest sensor and communication technologies to deliver a
capability that cannot be ignored. ...
8
The term UAV is very broad and encompasses vehicles such as cruise missiles (which
can be described as single mission UAVs), target drones, and decoys; therefore the
following discussion will be confined to multi-mission, man-in-the-loop machines
specifically designed and employed for the purpose of surveillance and reconnaissance. ... And if you passed that
information to an F-16 or an F-15 at 30,000 feet, and that pilot can simply
put in that latitude and longitude into his bomb fire control system, then
that bomb can dropped quite accurately onto that target, maybe very close
to that window, or, if it’s a precision weapon, perhaps it could be put
through the window…I’d buy a lot of UAVs in the future.8
The United States has attempted to harness the current capabilities of UAVs by
ordering the development of a family of UAVs based on altitude, range, endurance and
role criteria. ... These programs have been renamed as Joint Tactical UAV,
Medium Altitude Endurance UAV, Conventional High Altitude Endurance UAV, and
Low Observable High Altitude Endurance UAV respectively but the old and new
designations are used interchangeably. ... Categories and Proposed Capabilities of Current US UAV Programs
Category Designation Altitude Range Speed
(Cruise)
Endurance Sensors Status
Tier I Joint
Tactical
15,000 ft 108 nm 65 kts 12 hrs EO/ IR Hunter
in service
Tier II Medium
Altitude
Endurance
25,000 ft 500 nm 110 kts 40 hrs EO/IR/
SAR
Predator
in service
Tier II
Plus
Con High
Altitude
Endurance
65,000 ft 3000 nm 340 kts 40 hrs EO/IR/
SAR
Global
Hawk in
development
Tier III
Minus
LO High
Altitude
Endurance
45,000 ft 500 nm 250 kts 8 hrs EO/IR Dark Star
under
testing
Source: Defense Technical Information Center Annual Report Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
August 1995. ... Also, though the UAV
overcomes many of the limitations of manned aircraft in weather, some UAVs suffer from
their inability to operate in icing conditions due to the inherent disadvantages of
incorporating extra weight into such small vehicles. ... , Sky Spies Three Decades of Airborne Reconnaissance. ... , Near Real-Time Intelligence On The Tactical Battlefield AU
Press, Maxwell AFB, 1994. ... Harmon
Manned aircraft tactical reconnaissance squadrons are organized along the
conventional structures of operations and maintenance. ... All UAVs were assigned to Strategic Reconnaissance Wings and operated by
Strategic Reconnaissance Squadrons that operated not only the UAV and its launch
aircraft (if air launched) but manned reconnaissance aircraft as well.2
Following the experience of the Pioneer in Desert Storm a ‘concept of operations’
similar to manned aircraft reconnaissance squadrons was proposed. This has been
described in an Airpower Research Institute paper as follows:
Once tasking for the reconnaissance mission has been directed and the
decision is made to employ a UAV-MR (UAV-medium range), mission
planning will be conducted by a designated group at the flying squadron
consisting of operations (pilots), intelligence, weather, and imagery
interpretation personnel. ... Other UAVs could be kept
on “alert” status considerably reducing the response time following
tasking. ... 4 In recognition of this fact the USAF is using rated pilots to control Predator
UAVs; the decision being based on lower accident rates for rated pilots as compared to
others.5
Thus while the operator will remain a key part of the mission the increasing endurance
of UAVs will require multiple shifts to enable success of the mission. ... Multiple function is also highlighted by the realization that
qualified pilots are always going to be in short supply and a large fleet of UAVs may put a
strain on pilot availability. The 11th Reconnaissance Squadron at Nellis AFB which
inducted the Predator formally on 29 July 1995 is already aware that its expected 125
14
person strength (comprising half operators and half maintenance personnel) is going to
have problems filling its operator assignments from amongst qualified officer pilots.
Approximate Word count = 8111
Approximate Pages = 32.4
(250 words per page double spaced)
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