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Aviation History
2002
2002 - 0389.PDF
READER SERVICE »ER CONTACTS S3 EDITORIAL +44 (20) 8652 3842 Quadrant House. The Quadrant, Sutton, Surrey SM2 SAS, UK Fax +44 (20) 8652 3840 email fliqMMernational@rbixo.uk Editor Murdo Morrison •44 (20) 8652 4395 murdo.morrison@rbi.co.uk Editor's PA Oebra Warburton +44 (20) 8652 3835 debra.warburton@rbi.co.uk Deputy News Editor Emma Kelly +44 (20) 8652 3096 emma.kelly@rbi.co.uk Commercial Aviation Editor Max Kinqsley-Jones •44 (20) 8652 3825 max.kingsley.jones@rbi.co.uk Defence Aviation Editor Stewart Penney •44 (20) 8652 3834 stewart.penney@rbi.co.uk Operations/Safety Editor David Learmount •44 (20) 8652 3845 david.learmount@rbi.co.uk Business Editor Alexander Campbell +44 (20) 8652 3990 alexander.campbell@rbi.co.uk Business & General Aviation Editor Kate Sarsfield +44 (20) 8652 3885 (maternity leave) Business & General Aviation Reporter Justin Wastnage +44 (20) 8652 3863justin.wastnage@rbi.co.uk Spaceflight Correspondent Tim Furniss +44 (1237) 471960 tim@spaceport.co.uk EUROPE/MIDDLE EAST European Editor Christina Mackenzie +33 (1) 64 23 68 89 christina.mackenzie@rbi.co.uk Israel Correspondent Arie Egozi +972 (3) 9413132 Middle East Correspondent Gerald Butt +357 2 771967 gbutt@spidernet.com.cy AMERICAS Washington DC Office Fax +1 (703) 836 8344 Americas Editor Graham Warwick +1 (703) 836 3448 graham.warwick@rbi.co.uk East Coast Editor Paul Lewis +1 (703) 836 3084 jpaul.lewis@rbi.co.uk West Coast Editor Guy Norris +1(949)252 8971 Fax+1 (949) 252 8972 guy.norris@rbi.co.uk Brazil Correspondent Jackson Flores Jr +55 212439-6062 Fax 00 55 212349-6090 fubar@uol.com.br Canada Correspondent Brian Dunn +1 (514) 937-1855 Fax (514) 937-3352 brian@derniermot.com ASIA/PACIFIC Singapore Office Fax +653386171 Regional Managing Editor Nicholas lonides •654343311 Fax +65 338 6171 nicholas.ionides@rbi.co.uk Deputy Asia Editor Andrew Doyle •65 434 3309 andrew.doyle@rbi.co.uk Regional Reporter David Fullbrook +65 434 3314 david.fullbrook@rbi.co.uk Australia Civil Aviation Correspondent Paul Phelan •61(7)40532791 Fax +61 (7)40533003 pdphelan@optusnet.com.au Australia Military Aviation Correspondent Peter La Franchi •61 (0) 419 246 620 Fax +61 (2) 62312795 nuika@ozemail.com.au EDITORIAL PRODUCTION Group Production Editor Graeme Osborn +44 (20) 8652 3828 Group Art Editor James Mason +44 (20) 8652 4994 Chief Sub-Editor Chris Thornton +44 (20) 8652 3850 Deputy Production Editor Jackie Thompson +44 (20) 8652 4997 Sub-Editor Elaine Hills +44 (20) 8652 3848 Photographer Mark Wagner +44 (20) 8944 5225 mark, wagner@aviation-images.com ADVERTISING SEE P53 FOR LISTING SUBSCRIPTIONS+44 (1444) 445454 rbi.subscriptions@rbi.co.uk THE FLIGHT COLLECTION kim.hearn@rbi.co.uk WWW.FLIGHTINTERNATIONAL.COM /\~7" / *'' Transl>ort Intelligence (ATI), Flight International's sister j-\j J online service at www.rati.com, contains the full text of Flight •HM International'and Airline Business snce 1996. Full text of the magazines can also be found online with Lexis-Nexis, Dialogue, FT Profile, IAC and Reuters. Editor Kieran Daly +44 (20) 8652 3837 REED *»• BUSINI':ss INFORMATION YgPA COMMENT Lack of foresight Cancelling plans for a tactical UAV in favour of Global Hawk will leave the US Navy without a surveillance system close to the frontline The US Navy and Department of Defense decision to drop funding for the Northrop Grumman RQ-8A Fire Scout unmanned air vehicle (UAV) in favour of a USN buy of the same company's RQ-4A Global Hawk, may come back to haunt both organisations. The in-development Fire Scout is a vertical- take-off and landing tactical UAV (VTUAV). Based on the Schweizer 330 helicopter, Fire Scout is intended to provide area surveillance and reconnaissance as well as battle damage assessment - it will allow the local comman der to look over the next hill, the military's oldest requirement. The RQ-8A would have been a brigade and smaller formation asset, perhaps going ashore shortly after the US Marine Corps has established its bridgehead. Global Hawk is a behemoth, a high-altitude, long-endurance UAV capable of providing a wealth of intelligence, be it imagery from the electro-optical or synthetic aperture radar sen- A VTUAV is an organic asset: you can take it with you sors or an electronic order of battle provided by an ELINT suite. As seen during the war in Afghanistan, Global Hawk is an immensely capable UAV - and it is still only a prototype, with the programme only just moving into engi neering and manufacturing development. By putting all its eggs in one basket the USN may, however, find itself with the wrong capabilities in the next conflict. An analogy would be the situation that the US Air Force found itself in after retiring the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird Mach 3-capable reconnais sance platform. Operating the SR-71 was undoubtedly expensive, and the belief was that surveillance satellites would provide the necessary-coverage (the debate as to whether there was a still-secret "black project" on the drawing board is for another day). Unfortunately, the US armed forces found during the 1991 Gulf War that this was not the case. Retasking satellites takes time, partly because of the associated bureaucracy SR-71 s could have been tasked and per formed the mission in a matter of hours. The Global Hawk's many capabilities and its ability to deluge the force commander with intelligence will mean it is in high demand and access to it will be jealously guarded. It will be a strategic asset looking down from 60,000ft (18,300m) and working in concert with mar itime patrol aircraft, airborne early warning platforms and other intelligence gathering air craft, as well as ships and submarines. When the company of marines comes under fire, or a frigate is attacked by coastal forces during lit toral missions, the likelihood is that obtaining access to the Global Hawk to retask it to gather tactical intelligence will be near impos sible, particularly as the force commander, and the Global Hawk control, could be on the other side of the world in the continental USA. Fire Scout could be launched from just behind the frontlines or from the same flight- deck as used by the ship's helicopter. Intelligence would be almost immediate and flow straight to the person that needs it most. There are other US tactical UAV pro grammes in progress, but the VTUAV offers a host of advantages to the naval force. A VTUAV is an organic asset: you can take it with you. Global Hawk requires a land base, and although it has transpacific range, it does not fly very fast, and the 40h endurance is not much good if the UAV is only over its target for 2h. The tactical system is close to the action, requiring relatively simple sensors. Will the Global Hawk need to descend from its operat ing altitude to "see" the fine detail obvious to a lower flying UAV, and if it does, what happens to the flow of information to the other users? The USN could buy a tactical UAV off-the- shelf, but, like its current RQ-2A Pioneers, these would potentially be conventional take off UAVs. Procured to spot battleship guns, Pioneer requires large platforms - 170m long, 17,000t LPD assault ships. In today's environ ment, there is no guarantee that a task force will include an LPD, and it may not include an aircraft carrier (and if it does, using a UAV from such a ship would hamper its launch and recovery cycle, reducing operational effective ness). A task force may well be just a cruiser with a few destroyers and frigates. With such a huge increase in the US defence budget, it surely would not have been too difficult to find a few hundred million dollars for initial Fire Scout production. Northrop Grumman will build five RQ-8As anyway, and it may be that testing will underscore its utility and money will be found for operational sys tems. If not, the debrief after a future conflict may repeat that post-Gulf War - a cry for more rapidly available intelligence controlled by the commanders closest to the frontline. SEE DEFENCE P16 www.flightinternational.com FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 12-18 FEBRUARY 2002 5
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