ISTAR 13
Memorandum from L-3
Communications UK
L-3 Communications UK Ltd is pleased to submit evidence to
the House of Commons Defence Select Committee as part of its inquiry into ISTAR
and the role of UAVs.
Headquartered in New York, L-3 Communications is an
international defence company employing over 64,000 people worldwide and is a
prime systems contractor in aircraft modernisation and maintenance, C3ISR
(Command, Control, Communications, Intelligence, Surveillance and
Reconnaissance), Systems and Government Services. L-3 Communications is also a leading provider of high technology
products, sub-systems and systems.
L-3 Communications has a proud history of cooperation and
success with the Royal Air Force in airborne intelligence, surveillance, target
acquisition and reconnaissance capabilities.
The company was recently selected by the MoD as the preferred bidder for
Projects HELIX, IBS (Integrated Broadcast System) and LISTENER. All of these are key programmes at the
centre of the UK's future ISTAR capability. L-3 Communications has a growing
presence in the United Kingdom with sites across the UK at Tewkesbury, Bristol,
Barrow, Burgess Hill, Alton and Bracknell.
The demand for situational
awareness, force protection and operational overwatch in Iraq and Afghanistan
is fueling the demand for Full Motion Video and UAVs are transforming UK
forces' ability to deliver this information to the front line commands. In addition, weaponised UAVs are enabling commanders to shorten the "kill chain",
thus allowing the current, asymmetric fleeting target to be attacked. Furthermore, in counter-insurgency
operations, where the coalition has air supremacy, UAVs can range across the
entire area of operation, with their relatively small field of view sensors providing
tactical support to front line forces.
A key feature of UAVs is the Tactical Datalinks that provide
the specialised information infrastructures. These underpin low latency shared
situational awareness and command and control, enabling the prosecution of
'difficult, fleeting targets' by providing for the near-real time exchange of
information. Current operations have shown that the critical information
requirement throughout the Find, Fix and Finish spectrum of operations is the
dissemination of Full Motion Video to both headquarters and front line troops.
Traditionally, new platforms and sensors have provided an
attendant downlink and viewing device, leading inevitably to a growing logistic
burden as the scale of operations, enemy behaviour and our burgeoning 'Find'
Capability has led to an increase in platforms such as UAVs. In order to resolve the operational and
logistic burden of servicing multiple FMV feeds, the L-3 CSW ROVER has been
developed as a 'One Solution Remote Viewing Terminal' offering the operator a
wide-band, multiple frequency device for viewing the Full Motion Video output
of the majority of the Joint and Combined deployed ISTAR sensors and targeting
pods.
The future ROVERs will be characterised by high capacity,
improved security, joint and multi-national interoperability and a greater
spread of capability - not just in the land mounted and dismounted roles but in
fixed and rotary wing and maritime platforms, as well as NATO and coalition
partners. The linked exploitation of Tactical Datalinks will be a key
operational transformational factor and will provide the backbone of
information dissemination for the foreseeable future, cementing the UAVs role
in the 'find' constellation. Over time, this growing Tactical Data Link capability
will lead to the evolution of Remote Viewing Terminals into core elements of
C4I infrastructures. FMV will become as common as today's command and control
tool, the Map and Voice Combat Net Radio.
Turning to the constraints in the current generation of
UAVs, on particular operational missions a vital element in the derivation of
an opponent's intent is provided by the collection, fusion and dissemination of
signals in the electromagnetic spectrum. With over 40 years' experience in the
provision of manned assets in the electronic surveillance domain,
L-3/Integrated Systems plays a key role in providing strategic, theatre and
tactical support to both US and UK war fighters. One of the key elements that must be understood is the impact of
the laws of physics in addressing the technically sophisticated, as well as the
simple radio frequency targets in today's complex and challenging environment.
Indeed, the challenge today is no longer finding the needle in a haystack, it
is finding the right needle in a stack of needles.
Studies in both the US and UK
have identified that a mix of capabilities, both manned and unmanned, is
required in the future for successful operations across the spectrum of
conflict and in the range of scenarios in which UK and US forces are and could
be engaged.
Unless networked together, the laws of physics intervene and
the sensor capability of the current generation of UAVs is unable to deliver
the required accuracy or the sensitivity to prosecute the modern target
set. (Singular, fleeting targets
require more accuracy and more accuracy requires either more platforms/sensors
or networked sensors to cover more of the electro-magnetic spectrum from more
angles to quickly resolve the target position). In order, therefore, to
achieve the geolocation of a target emitter to the accuracy that modern
operations demand, a broader, networked capability is required.
This capability can currently be best derived from a large
airliner-sized asset with the ability to carry a large array, networked to the
smaller sensor platforms, with the computing power to fuse the data collected
and then to report to the wider community the intelligence and information
derived.
In future, the types of targets that UAVs can prosecute will
increase, thus increasing their tactical value and driving the requirement for
the dissemination of Full Motion Video yet further. A force mix of the large manned platform, however, which acts as
the host for off-board processing of UAV collected data connected to the capabilities
that are resident in the space segment, offers the optimum mix of assets to
successfully prosecute and derive the required intelligence.
This balance will allow UK forces to achieve greater shared
situational understanding and to underpin the improved decision support UK
commanders need in today's and tomorrow's complex battlespace.
30 May
2008
