ISR by All Means
Written by Peter Buxbaum
TISR 2011 Volume: 1 Issue: 1 (March)
The voracious appetite for ISR is outpacing the organic
capabilities of in-theater DoD assets. The solution has been
to call in commercial expertise in information gathering.
The U.S. military has quickly learned that its need for ISR data collection far exceeds its organic capabilities. Industry has stepped up to the plate and delivered a number of capabilities that help fill the need on the collection end as well as other aspects. Using outside contractors has done more than provide capabilities at an affordable price but it has been able to do so more rapidly than the military could have done so on its own. The flexibility in platforms and relocation of assets has helped fill the gap.
Freeing Up DoD Assets
Avenge Inc. is a U.S.-based company providing ISR collection resources primarily for the DoD and Department of State around the world. The prospect that outsourcing of some ISR capabilities will remain strong is echoed by Kurt Kline, Avenge’s business development program manager. “Demand from the warfighters for persistent surveillance only increases with a reduction of boots on the ground. As limited ground resources are available to maneuver across the area of operations, the ability to monitor and direct these resources where and when needed becomes more critical.”
ISR resources are at a premium and the ability to test, validate and calibrate new systems in the U.S. and move them to operational locations using experienced crews releases DoD assets to execute the mission while still ensuring a robust pipeline of validated and verified systems are available to the operational end user.
“High value, high cost tactical mission equipment can be substituted with low cost commercial-off-the-shelf systems here in the U.S. for training and exercise support,” said Kline. “Unmanned systems can be emulated by a small commercial fixed wing aircraft with the sensor and data link mounted on board. Instead of an auto pilot there is a real pilot, flying an FAA certified aircraft at a lower per hour cost, in any class of airspace providing the warfighter with a realistic and relevant training capability.”
Avenge operates or has operated the King Air-series, PC-12 (U-28), Dash 7 (RC-7), Dash 6, Dash 8, Cessna 208 and Cessna 206 all in an ISR configuration. Kline pointed out that all of their pilots average over 8,000 hours with most having an airline transport military flight instructor rating. In addition over 90 percent are former or retired military pilots.
The biggest challenge Avenge sees to mission fulfillment is similar to that faced by many other contractors—staff. Working to provide adequate housing, food and working conditions, military certifications and authorizations to be in theater, separation from family to name a few. “By taking a people centric view of scheduling and onsite management we can reduce the effects of the things out of our control,” said Kline.
AirScan, a company focused exclusively on U.S. military and government agency customers, is in its 23rd year of service to the airborne ISR and geospatial intelligence communities, modifying platforms, integrating payloads, and providing pilots, sensor operators, imagery analysts, and ground support personnel. They have recent experience operating in Europe, Southwest Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
“AirScan has the ISR industry’s most experienced pilots, sensor operators, imagery analysts, and ground support personnel, and we can support all tactical ISR platforms and payloads currently in use,” said Tom Fotopulos, AirScan’s chairman and CEO. “For our airborne ISR service contracts—which are turn-key—we have a fleet of 25 specially-modified Cessna 337 Super Skymaster aircraft equipped with L3 Wescam MX-15 Penta sensor cameras and microwave downlinks. For geospatial intelligence— LiDAR, SAR, HREO—and as UAV surrogates, we maintain a small fleet of specially-modified Cessna 303 Crusaders.”
Like most commercial ISR providers in theater, Fotopulos described challenges in the secure movement of airborne ISR personnel and assets into and out of difficult areas; establishing and maintaining secure communications systems in those areas; and maintaining a high level of fullmission- capability despite extremely long (and oftentimes circuitous) supply chains. “The key to managing each of these challenges is experience. AirScanners are, by any measure, the most experienced tactical ISR personnel in the industry,” said Fotopulos.
An unmanned aircraft originally developed to help fishermen monitor the weather and track schools of tuna has evolved over the last decade and a half to become one of the leading tactical ISR platforms for the United States military and coalition forces. More than that, the ScanEagle provides ISR under what has become a prime example of the successful outsourcing of ISR activities to a contractor.
The ScanEagle, first developed in the mid-1990s by Insitu Inc.—since 2008 a subsidiary of The Boeing Company—recently logged its 400,000th hour in theater, providing full motion video data to the U.S. Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force and Department of Defense as well as to the Australian Defence Force and Canadian Defence Forces.
Insitu also counts the militaries of Colombia and Poland among its other ScanEagle customers. Insitu’s relationship with the U.S. armed forces began in 2004, when it provided two ScanEagle mobile deployment units for use with the First Marine Expeditionary Force in Iraq. This was soon followed by Navy contracts in 2005 to support Operation Iraqi Freedom and the global war on terror and to provide oil platform security in the Persian Gulf. The ScanEagle has also been deployed on Navy high-speed vessels and on an afloat forward staging base.
While the company is reluctant to divulge how many ScanEagle units are currently fielded to the Southwest Asia theater, Ryan Hartman, Insitu’s vice president for sales and marketing allowed that “approximately 18 ScanEagles are in the air supporting a customer” in theater at any given time. “In 2009,” Hartman added, “the ScanEagle accounted for 22 percent of all unmanned flight hours in theater.”
Most of Insitu’s arrangements with U.S. and foreign militaries involve service contracts in which company personnel operate the aircraft and provide full motion video intelligence to customers. “Our provision of the ScanEagle to theater follows a contractor owned/contractor operated [COCO] model,” said Hartman. “We still own the platform and we provide the operators and the customer face for the full motion video that comes off the system. Our customers are able to rapidly expand their ISR capabilities without having to pay for the development or the deployment of a new system.”
Insitu provides these services through a force of over 500 field services representatives. “Many of them have prior military background and understand the environment in theater because they have lived it,” said Hartman.
The ScanEagle unmanned aircraft system carries electro-optical and infrared imagers that allow the operator to track both stationary and moving targets. An improved platform called NightEagle carries a cooled mid-wave infrared sensor.
“This provides an incredible improvement in performance when it comes to night vision and moisture-laden environments for the ScanEagle,” said Hartman. The platform is capable of flying above 19,500 feet and loitering over the battlefield for more than 24 hours providing persistent, low-altitude ISR. The aircraft’s internal avionics bay allows the seamless integration of new payloads and sensors to meet customer requirements. “This ensures the vehicle will be able to incorporate the latest technology as it becomes available,” said Hartman.
The services-based contracts incentivize the company to incorporate new technologies to the benefit of the customer. Some 180 improvements have been made to the ScanEagle since it first took flight in Southwest Asia more than six years ago. One of the standout improvements was the incorporation of the mid-wave infrared sensor for enhanced night vision and moisture- laden capabilities. “We received feedback that the night vision of the ScanEagle wasn’t good enough and we responded to that,” said Hartman.
Another major improvement was the adaptation of the vehicle to the use of heavy fuel. “Our Navy customers did not want to carry the risk of having gasoline stored onboard ship,” said Hartman. “This is another example of how we responded to the needs of a key customer.”
ScanEagle is launched autonomously from a pneumatic catapult launcher and flies either preprogrammed or operatorinitiated missions. A patented system is used to retrieve the vehicle, capturing it with a rope suspended from a 50-foothigh mast. “This makes the ScanEagle runway-independent and minimizes its impact on shipboard operations similar to vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft,” noted Hartman.
The aircraft comes with a ground system called IMUSE—the Insitu Multiple UAS Software Environment—which is designed to provide intuitive, point-and-click real-time control and monitoring of the aircraft.
“IMUSE is designed around the premise that the operation of ScanEagle is the operation of a sensor,” said Hartman. “The ground control system extracts the autonomous behaviors of the ScanEagle and allows the operator to focus on the operations of the sensor, which is the whole reason the ScanEagle is put into the air.”
Thus, basic functions such as launch, control and recovery are largely automated, while emergency procedures are easy to master. “The emergency procedures are built in and intuitive,” said Hartman, “so that an operator can handle a malfunction or failure mode within the aircraft while maintaining mission capability.”
Insitu field service representatives are now highly experienced at providing ISR to both ground and shipboard deployments, Hartman pointed out. “We make sure we have highly qualified people,” he added. “Our people are one of our competitive advantages. Today they support U.S. and coalition forces with 98 percent mission readiness. A trusted team member understands the mission and delivers results.”
Insitu’s field service representatives also benefit from a special support network that provides reassurance that their personal needs are taken care of back at home. “That means that field service representatives can focus on the mission without worrying about issues at home,” said Hartman. Customers also have the benefit of an Insitu operations action center (OAC) that is open 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, 365 days per year. “Our OAC provides resolution to time-critical issues,” said Hartman.
“A call or e-mail to the OAC receives an immediate response from a real person equipped with a company-wide network of experts.”
The advantages to the company of this services contract are less obvious. “At the time this is what was necessary to get the initial contract with the Marine Corps,” said Hartman. “We were being innovative in responding to a war fighting need. “But this is what got us into the water,” he added. “We were just a small company when we won the first contract. We were able to understand the risk involved and make it a win-win situation for the warfighter and for us. Figuring out how to make this a win-win is our secret sauce. It is why we are a market leader today.”
But the services contract has its associated drawbacks as well. “The risks involved have to be understood and well-managed,” said Hartman. “One thing we seen have seen with services-based contracts is that the customer can decide to end it at any time. It is a service we are providing and there are risks associated with that.”
On the other hand, services contracts allow companies like Insitu to work closely with their military customers to strive to maintain the program and make sure it has a long life. And, given the longevity of the contracts Insitu has enjoyed working with the U.S. military, and their ongoing nature, it seems the risks Insitu has taken are paying off. ♦