Lessons learned from Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi Freedom are reinforcing the need for a mixed fleet of medium-sized manned and unmanned platforms as the solution for NATO's Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) need, believes the Northrop Grumman-led Transatlantic Industrial Proposed Solution (TIPS) team.
Among the critical lessons, the team says, are the need for the AGS system to quickly support expansion of mission parameters, and the need for extended dwell capabilities.
Differences in deployment of assets such as the US Air Force's Northrop Grumman E-8 JSTARS ground surveillance aircraft between the Afghanistan and Iraq campaigns indicate the need for extensive capabilities from day one of operations.
Nine JSTARS were available on the opening night of the Iraq war, whereas only limited numbers were available in the opening phases of the war in Afghanistan.
Both operations, however, saw rapid growth in the airborne ground surveillance mission. This included development of co-ordinated operations using manned and unmanned platforms, the use of strategic level unmanned air vehicles in tactical roles, and the expansion of battlefield management support from senior theatre command down to individual ground units. "We never thought we would be working with groups such as [UK special forces] or post-war peacekeeping units," Northrop Grumman says.
The TIPS team says both operations emphasised the high crew workload during battlefield management, which forced the use of augmented crews. This was particularly significant during the Afghanistan campaign because of the reduced number of aircraft initially available.
Both operations emphasised the need for "platform stamina" with most NATOAGS missions requiring deployment outside Europe.
The Northrop Grumman-led TIPS team is bidding for the NATO AGS requirement with a combination of Airbus A321s and RQ-4B Global Hawks equipped with the Transatlantic Collaborative AGS radar.
Source: Flight International
