ANG looking for $59 million to improve Predator GCS cockpits By Jason Simpson Inside the Air Force June 13, 2008 As the Air National Guard steadily stands up MQ-1 Predator unmanned aerial vehicle squadrons, obtaining advanced cockpits for the drones’ ground control stations tops the Guard’s UAV unfunded priorities list, according to a book listing its upcoming requirements. In the next four years, the Guard wants to put $59 million into the effort, beginning with a one-time funding request of $38.3 million in fiscal year 2009, and recurring line items of $390,000 and $4.8 million running from FY-09 to FY-12, according to its fiscal year 2009 Weapons Systems Modernization Requirements book, a copy of which was obtained by Inside the Air Force. “The advanced cockpit focuses on human factors to provide intuitive, pilot-like controls, and advanced visualization,” the book states, noting that five ANG units will reach Predator initial operational capability by the middle of FY-10. “Continued use of the current ground control station cockpit limits the crews for situational awareness and expose them and the aircraft to increased risk due to the poor operator interface and limited capabilities of the current cockpit design.” The Air Force is looking at a March 2009 date for the stand-up of the last Guard unit to be trained for UAV operations (ITAF, Aug. 24, 2007, p2). That unit will be a squadron from New York, the only one of five to fly the MQ-9 Reaper. Guard squadrons from California, Arizona, North Dakota and Texas are flying Predator missions now from their respective home bases. The Guard also is requesting $7 million for an integrated Predator/Reaper operation center and $19.8 million for sense-and-avoid technology in its FY-09 budget request, the book states. Without the integrated operations center, ANG UAV units will be forced to rely on “ad hoc installation of evolving [Predator and Reaper operation centers] to meet current and future requirements without the advantage of being fully integrated into an open architecture,” according to the book. The modernization book serves as a user-generated guide for upgrading Guard equipment based on the most pressing combat needs identified by its airmen, according to Guard officials. Items listed in the book are unfunded priorities broken down by critical, essential and desired capabilities. The advanced cockpit -- along with a “subsonic weapon providing cockpit selectable fusing, 180 degree offboresight capability, dual-mode guidance, and multiple weapons per pylon,” a fully integrated tactical datalink, laser spot search and track capability and a satellite communications radio in the ground control station -- was listed as a critically needed capability. The sense-and-avoid technology falls under “essential capabilities.” It is accompanied by additional airborne radio, digital video, voice and data recorders in the cockpit, and a 120-degree field-of-view nose camera. The ANG drone squadrons will support both overseas and domestic operational missions, with training flights in the continental United States, the report states. Federal Aviation Administration regulations require that UAVs be equipped to sense and avoid potential air traffic conflicts. “To fully meet the need for ANG support to Federal and State missions supporting national security and homeland defense utilizing the long dwell capability of ANG UASs, a capable sense and avoid system is essential,” the report states. If this item is not funded, there will be the “increased potential for air-to-air collisions. Additionally, the FAA would deny or restrict access to the [national airspace] required for domestic missions and required training.” In the Senate Armed Services Committee’s mark-up of its FY-09 authorization bill, lawmakers recommend the Defense Department and the FAA create a joint committee to address policy development for UAVs flying in national airspace (ITAF, May 23, p3). As Predator combat air patrols overseas increase exponentially, and the Air Force increases its medium- and high-altitude UAV operator student body numbers, the Air Force Research Laboratory is in the midst of several initiatives to enhance the drones’ sense-and-avoid capabilities. One program, called PRISM or passive ranging investigation for sense and avoid maneuver, will not only detect that an aircraft is in a UAV’s area of flight, but will also show the range of the aircraft by triangulating the location of the other plane (ITAF, Oct. 12, 2007, p1). However, the Defense Department, the FAA and other organizations will not attain a comprehensive solution for integrating military drones into U.S. airspace until 2015 or 2020 given the current pace of technological and standards- development initiatives, DOD warned in a report sent to Congress in March (ITAF, May 2, p15). Meanwhile, the Guard is requesting $131.8 million over the next five fiscal years for distributed common ground system investments, according to the requirements book. DCGS processes, exploits and disseminates intelligence data from platforms including Predators and Reapers, as well as RQ-4 Global Hawks and U-2 Dragonladies. Critical ANG capabilities for these investments include: voice communications with intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platform crews; a tactical receive system to access common operating picture and common collaborative tools from combat theaters and civilian entities; and an unclassified baseline system to support human relief, non-combatant evacuation and defense support of civil authorities operations, according to the book. A standardized equipment suite for the ground station “DGS-NV,” to ensure it has the same systems as other ANG sites, is listed as one of the “essential” capabilities. The air guard is requesting $45.7 million over the next five fiscal years to install multi-intelligence distributed ground stations at Birmingham, AL, Little Rock, AR, and Reno, NV. “Installing these additional components of the SENTINEL [the official designation of the Guard’s DCGS] baseline at three ANG squadrons will allow these units to fully participate in distributed operations on a daily basis, providing augmentation for the current high operations tempo in the AF DCGS enterprise, at the same time providing critical software and hardware upgrades to match SENTINEL weapon system baseline,” the book notes. The Guard also is requesting: $30.6 million for homeland security/defense support to civil authorities enclaves at six bases -- Otis Air National Guard Base, MA, Holman Field, IN, McConnell Air Force Base, KS, and Birmingham, Little Rock and Reno -- giving them the ability to process unclassified and “For Official Use Only” imagery to transmit to local authorities; $24.1 million for an “ANG communications management and landing site” for the DCGS; and $20.7 million for “collateral enclaves” at the six locations. In addition ANG is looking for $7.7 million for a technical upgrade to DCGS Block 10.2 at the Reno site, according to the book. The latest increment of the station has twice the capacity of its predecessor, Block 10.1, and the first unit was recently installed at Beale Air Force Base, CA (ITAF, May 30, p5).   (Archives)