MILITARY SHAPING THE FUTURE OF ISR
years ago, we thought we had enough.
Now we are looking at procuring 20-35 a
year to build up and keep our force at the
right size, but we have not yet decided
on buying MQ-9 forever.” Under current
plans, deliveries of 350 Block 5 Reapers
will be completed in FY2021; the Air Force
is currently studying whether this number
needs to be changed. The US Air Force is
interested in a potential MQ-9 replacement,
designated MAISR (Medium-Altitude
ISR) that would also be a likely follow-on
procurement for international users.Other medium-altitude long-endurance
UAVs are also being adopted by international
users. The Israel Aircraft Industries Heron
1 has been used by Germany in Mali and
Afghanistan. Building on this operational
experience, Germany chose to procure five
advanced Heron TP UAV systems rather
than Reapers. Crew training started in 2016,
though the air vehicles will not be operational
until 2018 (the lease of the Heron 1s has
been extended to cover the shortfall). The
multinational European medium altitude
long endurance, remotely piloted air system(another name for a UAV) completed its
ten-month system definition phase at the
end of July. France, Germany Spain and Italy
have decided on a twin-turboprop design.
Development is planned to start in 2018, with
first flight in 2023.Sensor pods
Enhanced ISR sensor pods have the
potential to provide enhanced capabilities to
manned and unmanned platforms, ranging
from an infrared search and tracker system
intended primarily for air-to-air combat or
having a multispectral capability capable of
wide area surveillance. ISR pods benefit from
the miniaturisation of sensor, data processing
and datalink technologies in recent years.
Current developments are aimed at fielding
open-architecture pods that can be tailored
to mission requirements. The Lockheed
Martin Legion and the Northrop Grumman
OpenPod are examples being offered to both
US and international users. Less expensive
pods with integral datalinks have made a
range of manned and unmanned platforms
mission capable.
An example of the international
cooperation enabled by sensor pods – a
European-designed pod for US-designed
UAVs – is represented by Raytheon
Deutschland’s Advanced Radar Detection
System (ARDS) pod. The pod is currently
undergoing ground testing and will start flight
testing at Naval Air Weapons Station China
Lake, California, in early 2018. Developed
as a private venture to be compatible with
Predator and Reaper UAVs, ARDS usesA Block 5 MQ-9 Reaper, upgraded with new electrical and communications systems, loaded with AGM-114 Hellfire missiles, a GBU-12 Paveway II laser-guided
bomb and a GBU-38 Joint Direct Attack Munition. On June 23, a Block 5 Reaper flew the variant’s first combat sortie in support of Operation Inherent Resolve.
During the 16-hour mission, the crew employed one GBU-38 and two Hellfire missiles while providing hours of armed reconnaissance for ground forces. Senior
Airman Christian Clausen/US Air ForceAir Force Research Laboratory’s AgilePod is a multi-intelligence, open architecture, reconfigurable
prototype designed for the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and Air Force Special Operations
communities. Courtesy photo