Seapower - October 2011

Force Multipliers

Reporter’s Notebook: Versatility of drones underscored at AUVSI conference By RICHARD R. BURGESS, Managing Editor

Demand for the ScanEagle unmanned air sys- tem (UAS) continues to grow even as succes- sor systems are prepared for service.

Steve Morrow, president and chief executive officer of ScanEagle maker Insitu, a Bingen, Wash.-based subsidiary of Boeing Co., said the UAS had exceeded 500,000 flight hours and 55,000 combat flight hours in seven years of service to the U.S. military and other customers. Speaking to reporters Aug. 16 at the Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) Unmanned Systems 2011 North America exposition in Washington, he said that at any time 22 ScanEagles are airborne somewhere in the world, sustained with a 99 percent readiness rate.

ScanEagles have flown in operational intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) roles in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa, the Pacific and Libya. A ScanEagle detachment deployed this year aboard the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Mahan flew 167 sorties for 1,154 hours, providing ISR in support of the missions to protect Libyan civilians during the unrest that toppled the regime of Muammar Gaddafi, as well as battle damage assessment and pattern recognition that looked for changes in the situation.

Ryan Hartman, vice president of sales and marketing at Insitu, said more than 1,500 ScanEagles have been built, and continue to be at a rate of 20 to 30 per month. While some have been purchased by customers, including U.S. Special Operations Command, most ScanEagles are Insitu-owned systems that are operated for users under service contracts.

Insitu has made more than 80 improvements to the ScanEagle since 2004, Hartman said, including a third-generation infrared sensor, improved tracking algorithms and improved sensor stabilization.

Morrow sees no decline in demand for ScanEagle services as U.S. forces are withdrawn from Afghanistan.

“We expect an uptick,” he said. “The need for ISR will go up as the [number of] boots on the ground goes down.” In September, the Marine Corps was to take delivery of the first Insitu-built RQ-21A Integrator, the system

selected by the Navy for its Small Tactical UAS (STUAS)/ Tier III UAS requirement as an organic, service-owned and -operated UAS.

According to Col. Jim Rector, STUAS program manager for the Department of the Navy, the department has exercised an option for early operational capability for the system. The Marine Corps and Navy are taking delivery of two systems of four RQ-21As each.

Weapons a Go for Shadow

The Marine Corps has obtained approval of the Navy Requirements Oversight Council to deploy weapons on its RQ- 7 Shadow 200 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and is moving ahead with a rapid deployment plan to field a precision weapon on the UAV to meet an urgent needs requirement.

Maj. Bill Hendricks, UAS coordinator for Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, speaking on an AUVSI exposition panel Aug. 17, said the service is looking for a weapon that can be carried by the Shadow, is compatible with laser targeting and carries low risk of inflicting collateral damage.

A weaponized UAV can lighten the load of Marines in combat by substituting for heavy mortars that have to be carried into the battle space, according to Bill Powers, a research fellow at the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab in Quantico, Va.

Hendricks said enemy insurgents in Afghanistan study how long it takes Marines to respond to an assault, and typically have a four-minute window to inflict casualties before a response can be mounted. The RQ-7As of one Marine UAV squadron witnessed 100 occasions of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) being planted and insurgents scattering before fire could be brought to bear on them.