TACTICAL RECONNAISSANCE UAVS VERSUS MANNEDAIRCRAFT
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.