Memorandum from Finmeccanica UK
SCOPE
1. This memorandum is intended to add the
Committee's body of evidence by highlighting the contribution
of Research and Technology in three of the issues under consideration:
— Optimising the "Collect,
Process and Disseminate" phases of the ISTAR chain.
— The way in which future UAS[12]
capability is informing the MOD's overall approach and direction
relating to ISTAR.
— The airspace and air traffic
control implications for the wider operation of UAS.
To address these issues, this memorandum covers:
the context for ISTAR in the future battlespace; sensor developments
related to operational effectiveness and "sense and avoid";
integration of the UAS ISTAR product through common ground control
stations; and the implications for autonomous operations.
UAS IN FINMECCANICA
2. In terms of UAS platforms and sensors,
Finmeccanica with its constituent companies, covers the entire
spectrum of development programmes. The Alenia Aeronautica Sky-X
is a large UCAV technology demonstrator programme while the Sky-Y
is a diesel-engined Medium Altitude Long Endurance UAS designed
to explore autonomous operation. The Company's Nibbio fast reconnaissance
UAS has a cruise speed of 0.85 Mach and high survivability given
its low radar cross-section and defensive aids suite. They are
also collaborators in the European Neuron stealthy, autonomous
UCAV programme with a 22% share. SELEX Galileo manufactures the
Falco tactical UAS, currently in service with the Armed Forces
of a Middle Eastern country. SELEX Galileo is also collaborating
with a number of UK and Italian SMEs to develop a range of mini-UAS.
Of the current family of five platforms which embrace a number
of novel aerodynamic and propulsion technologies, the STRIX UAS
is currently in service with a NATO member country.
3. As for sensor payloads, SELEX Galileo
design, develop and manufacture radar and electro-optical sensors,
and defensive aids suites for fixed and rotary wing aircraft,
armoured fighting vehicles and ships. They also have expertise
in Command and Control, and mission systems. The underpinning
technologies have also been developed for UAS applications. In
terms of integration and training, AgustaWestland have expertise
in the integration of platforms and weapon systems into the land
battlespace, based on their Bowman and Apache integration, mission
planning/de-briefing and training contracts. Equally, the development
of Future Lynx multi-spectrum sensor integration, tactical processing,
data fusion, target handling, Command and Control, and weapons
and communications integration has contributed to this key industrial
capability. AgustaWestland has also completed live flying trials
for launch and recovery of small UAS and loitering munitions from
helicopter weapon pylons. With the move towards Unmanned Ground
Vehicles (UGV) and Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUV), the concept
of deploying, controlling and recovering UGV and UUV from helicopters
should not be overlooked. AgustaWestland also has proven experience
in packaging, transporting, and the deployment and recovery of
assets of this scale in the EH101 family. AgustaWestland continues
to work with Boeing and the US Army's Program Executive Office
for Aviation to assess current work on Apache AH64-D for manned
and unmanned platform integration. The Company will provide the
capability development path for any consequent changes to UK WAH-64D
as the technology and requirement matures. Taken together, this
expertise underpins Finmeccanica's experience and capabilities
on the integration and connectivity between land, maritime and
air systems (including UAS) in association with future land and
maritime operational concepts, not least the UK's aspirations
on Land Medium Weight Capability.
FUTURE CONTEXT
4. From the war-fighter's perspective, the
development of ISTAR capability is complicated by two factors.
First, the Committee has been made aware of the need for robust
information management capability in an increasingly networked
world so as to optimise the "Direct—Collect—Process—Disseminate"
ISTAR activity cycle. Secondly, as we look to the next decade,
this activity cycle is further complicated by the existence of
increasing numbers of non-traditional or multi-role ISTAR collectors
that might be involved in an entirely different primary mission.
Fast-jet attack aircraft continually generate ISTAR data from
their targeting pods and EW systems. A current example is the
integration under a UOR of the Lockheed Martin Sniper pod, which
itself contains SELEX Galileo technology, onto the UK Harriers
operating in Afghanistan which provide both direct and indirect
ISTAR data. In addition, the ISTAR requirements for some missions
cannot be centrally managed regardless of the capacity and agility
of the connecting network. Rather, they have to be held as organic
both to the platform and to the fighting formation concerned.
The Committee will be aware of the insatiable demand for video
imagery among our forces in Afghanistan. Systems such as the ROVER
ground terminals are employed to provide this capability but future
requirements will outstrip the data-handling capacity available.
In addition, multi-role platforms such as Future Lynx become vital
assets in the type of high-intensity manoeuvre and counter-insurgency
warfare envisaged in the future. Here, the related reconnaissance
task includes the movement and support of recce, observation post,
and Joint Fire control parties of four men and their equipment
in the battlespace. The maintenance of tempo requires commanders
to move such elements rapidly to plug gaps in ground reconnaissance,
move recce/fire control parties over difficult terrain and to
react quickly by calling-in firepower, hence the selection of
a single, multi-role platform to facilitate all these tasks.
5. Conceptually, in these types of scenarios,
the ISTAR chain will need to be seen as being subsumed by the
Kill Chain[13]
but with a "person-in-the-loop" at every stage. While
this potentially places a limitation on the degree to which both
UAS and UCAS will be able to substitute for manned systems, it
also highlights that the future context will require a balance
between manned and unmanned systems with integration and interoperability
being paramount. More broadly, apart from the question of what
unmanned vehicles could achieve, the existing ISTAR and command
and control contributions from manned rotary platforms remains
far from exploited. The question of "what" and "how"
these contributions could be tapped into and for what resource
cost needs to be addressed by the appropriate MOD Capability Planning
Group. AgustaWestland would be well placed to lead the industrial
support to a properly tested response, backed-up with technical
and architectural audit through NITEworks.
6. As the Committee knows, MoD has initiated
a UAS Capability Investigation which has been subdivided into
six working groups. They are: Acquisition Coherence; CONEMP/CONUSE;
Integration Standardization and Interoperability; Requirements
Development; R&D; and, Training and Employment. SELEX Galileo
is represented on three of these working groups including the
Integration Standardization and Interoperability group. The output
of this effort, expected later this year, will influence the future
integration of UAS into the overall ISTAR environment.
SENSOR DEVELOPMENTS
7. Most UAS ISTAR payloads are currently
restricted to Electro-Optical and Infra-red (EO/IR) sensors. The
next step is to include a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) with
more advanced EO/IR sensors that are capable of mutually cueing
each other. Such a capability is not only required for effective
ISTAR collection but is also on the pathway towards autonomy.
SELEX Galileo is active in the development of such payloads for
tactical UAS and their larger counterparts. However, in all cases
weight, space, power and cooling capacity places a high premium
on miniaturisation. To this end, the company's PicoSAR radar is
the result of a £5 million PV programme and makes full use
of "commercial, off-the-shelf" technology. It is an
advanced electronically scanned, briefcase-sized, lightweight
(less that 10 kilograms) radar system offering high resolution
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and Ground Moving Target Indicator
(GMTI) imagery with low power consumption (less that 300 watts).
It has been successfully trialled by the US Army. It has recently
demonstrated an effective "coherent change detection"
capability which may prove a valuable aid in locating IEDs. The
PicoSAR rests on the bedrock of SELEX Galileo's broader electronically
scanned radar technology which includes both airborne search and
fire control radars which are either fitted on or intended for
the US Coastguard C130 and Citation aircraft, Typhoon, Tornado
and the Korean Aircraft Industry A-50. In both the DIS and the
DTS, this technology was regarded as one over which the UK wished
to retain operational sovereignty and maintain on-shore intellectual
property.
8. As for the development of UAS EO/IR capability,
SELEX Galileo has a long-established capability in laser targeting
systems. The company's PicoBIL is a £8 million PV programme
which uses gated, burst illumination laser technology to provide
3-D target-quality images. Again, miniaturisation has been the
key so as to reduce weight and space requirements and allow maximum
UAS endurance. The technology is now sufficiently mature to allow
SELEX Galileo to offer a burst illumination upgrade package to
current generation EO turrets and targeting pods. The laser technology
is derived from that contained in the Sniper reconnaissance pod
which is currently flying on RAF Harriers in Afghanistan. Lockheed
Martin selected SELEX Galileo as the laser supplier for Sniper
and for the more advanced targeting sensors in JSF: Northrop Grumman
selected SELEX Galileo as the laser supplier for the Litening
pod. Again this world-class technology was recognised in the DIS
and DTS as being a required on-shore capability. Work is now in
train to integrate and demonstrate PicoSAR and PicoBIL as a single
UAS payload so that the radar can act as the search aid for ISTAR
targets of interest and cue the laser for more granular analysis,
including target recognition. In addition, other classified programmes
will see the integration of other Electronic Warfare ISTAR capabilities
into integrated UAS payloads.
9. Electronically-scanned radar and Electro
Optics are very important technologies to the Defence Industry.
As the DIS recognised, in the future, platforms will remain in
service for prolonged periods. As a result, incremental capability
enhancements in key areas such as self-protection, situational
awareness and fire-power will be generated from sensors, software
and mission systems embracing these same technologies which have
applicability in the fixed-wing, rotary, land and UAS domain.
As a result and given the MOD's resource difficulties, the Department
will need to think creatively over how to nurture the development
of these technologies and provide the incentive to industry to
retain the intellectual property in the UK. Thus, in seeking to
buy `off the shelf' from other nations (particularly the US),
they will need to consider the impact on existing on-shore capability
and the implications for operational sovereignty.
COMMON GROUND
CONTROL STATIONS
10. In terms of the integration of UAS into
the ISTAR mix, there are operational, logistic and training advantages
in seeking to create a common ground control station (CGCS). To
this end, SELEX Galileo has funded a research programme to design
and demonstrate potential architectures. The resulting CGCS will
be built and installed at the Company's UAS trials facility at
ParcAberporth and integrated with the Concept to Capability (C2C)
synthetic environment developed by our Luton facility. The CGCS
will be compliant with both the NATO and US standards for platform
control, imagery and data. The C2C can then integrate the real-world
CGCS and UAS within its synthetic environment enabling development
and test of multiple architectures for command and control, mission
management, weapons release and autonomy in as realistic an environment
as possible. This arrangement will be a vital tool in helping
to develop the UK's approach to Network Enabled Capability.
AUTONOMOUS OPERATIONS
11. In future, the autonomous operation
of UAS will be required for three reasons. First, as the number
of network-enabled systems of all types grows, so will the pressures
on communications bandwidth. Autonomy reduces the high datalink
requirement inherent in the remote operation of UAS and also means
that the opposition's battlefield jamming is less effective. Secondly,
the very short decision-action times required in some operational
environments, particularly against fleeting asymmetric targets,
will require autonomous operation. In addition, as threat levels
to conventional platforms increase in the future, `first day of
war' capabilities will require a mix of manned stealth aircraft
and `swarms' of UCAS in a single force package. Equally, swarms
of UCAVs will be required to overwhelm defences. Finally, safe
operation of civil and military UAS alongside manned aircraft
in non-segregated UK (and international) airspace is deemed to
require a "sense and avoid" capability from UAS in order
to comply with the Air Navigation Order. However, the term "sense
and avoid" underplays the complexity of the problem. Rather,
the required capability is better described as "Detect, Identify,
Decide and Manoeuvre" which autonomy will provide.
12. Early next year, SELEX Galileo will
site a Falco UAS at ParcAberporth for test, trial and demonstration
of various types of payload. Included within that programme, we
also plan to trial various potential technologies for "sense
and avoid" capability. We expect a proportion of these trials
to be in cooperation with ASTREA. Falco will be flown from the
CGCS which in turn will be integrated within the synthetic environment
of the C2C. This will allow us to test in a real world environment
multiple scenarios for assessing various autonomous flight solutions.
21 May 2008
12 The term UAS is used generically to include the
platforms, mission systems, sensors and personnel engaged in the
"Direct-Collect-Process-Disseminate" ISTAR chain, more
properly termed an Unmanned Air System (UAS). Back
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Find-Fix-Track-Target-Engage-Assess. Back
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