Aviation Week & Space Technology
October 8, 2001
Pg. 66

Intel Aircraft Fan Out, Hunting For Targets

Space-based reconnaissance is shifted to back burner as airborne intelligence gains prominence

By Robert Wall and David A. Fulghum, Washington

Continuing intelligence preparations for combat operations in Afghanistan that began with satellites and CIA drones are growing as the U.S. military shifts its reconnaissance aircraft into the region.

At the same time, Pentagon officials are drafting road maps to accelerate upgrades and restructure modernization plans for the overworked surveillance fleet.

Among intelligence aircraft on the move are the U-2 (radar, electro-optical and signals intelligence), RC-135 Rivet Joint (electronic and communications intelligence), and E-8C Joint-STARS (long-range, ground surveillance radar).

Another sign that preparations for military action are accelerating is that Pentagon-based war-planning specialists and targeting experts are gathering at a command center in Saudi Arabia--now on a wartime footing. The cell is supposed to devise the tactical plans to conduct the "war on terror" declared by the Bush Administration. Other specialties being called to duty are land-mine detection and removal experts and security forces.

On the budget front, intelligence efforts also have snagged more than 25% of the first $4.25-billion installment of the emergency supplemental given to the Pentagon. At least some of the emergency funding should go to improve sigint analysis.

The list of programs headed for a make-over is long and includes such items as future Air Force and Navy intelligence and reconnaissance systems. Moreover, some lawmakers are reconsidering who should control the systems.

One of the largest U.S. intelligence programs, the National Reconnaissance Office's next-generation Future Imagery Architecture (FIA), is expected to suffer as a consequence of recent developments. FIA funding to develop and build the constellation of electro-optical and radar imaging satellites is being diverted to air-breathing intelligence systems, said one official close to the program. The rationale, the FIA team has been told, is that a "satellite can't see what's in a cave."

FIA was already in trouble before, said one industry official. Development problems have hampered progress with the electro-optical system and the radar. As a result, both subsystems are now behind schedule, he said. The change in priorities also is causing other adjustments:

*The Air Force wants to quickly field the next four Northrop Grumman Global Hawk unmanned reconnaissance aircraft. Sensor suite production also is being rushed.

*Lockheed Martin U-2s are having their infrared surveillance sensor system upgraded. Global Hawk and U-2 upgrades were in competition for funding, but now there appears to be money for both. U-2 crews are already said to be "maxed out" with surveillance of Afghanistan.

*Raytheon's RC-135 Rivet Joint electronic intelligence 55000 System is being upgraded. Specifically, the automatic electronic emitter locating subsystem will gain greater sensitivity. As a result, enemy emitters should be located with enough accuracy to be targeted by smart weapons.

Air Force plans for a new multimission reconnaissance and intelligence-gathering system are also getting a boost. Congress and the Pentagon are considering enhancing the program. Tentative Air Force plans called for the Multi-Sensor Command and Control Aircraft to be fielded in 2009, with progressive upgrades that would have led to a Rivet Joint replacement around 2012. Missions such as airborne warning and control and ground moving-target surveillance would be addressed first.

The service is considering accelerating the project, industry officials said. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John Jumper sees the multi-sensor aircraft as an opportunity to start buying or leasing at least three Boeing 767-200s a year, they added. Those aircraft are expected to be the baseline for the surveillance system and be used as the service's future tanker.

The 767 acceleration also is seen as an opportune way to prop up Boeing's ailing commercial aircraft business. The downturn in the airline industry already has forced the company to announce layoffs of 30,000, prompting Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.), whose district includes many Boeing employees, to propose the Pentagon step in and help.

The Navy also wants to buy a new multipurpose surveillance aircraft, the Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft (MMA). It would replace the P-3 maritime patrol system and EP-3 sigint collector. A leading candidate for the replacement is the Boeing 737, which would give the service commonality with its C-40 logistics aircraft. The C-40 also is seen as a candidate for "plus-ups" to aid Boeing.

But Pentagon designs to replace its manned signals intelligence aircraft are getting mixed reviews. The House intelligence committee endorses the idea of modernizing the force, but thinks the Navy plan has to change. The committee, in its Fiscal 2002 authorization report, noted that the Navy and Air Force should pursue the same course, with the Air Force taking the lead.

THE MODEL THE Pentagon should emulate with its sigint aircraft is that of the EA-6B standoff jammer. In the latter case, the Marine Corps and Navy provide electronic warfare support for the entire Pentagon. "A combined fleet of dedicated reconnaissance aircraft could be smaller in number than two separate fleets of dissimilar aircraft," the House report states. One service would be named the "executive agent" and run the force.

The aircraft USAF selects as its tanker should also become the multiservice sigint platform, the committee said. Because the EP-3s will reach the end of their service life first (some in 2004), that asset should be replaced before the Rivet Joint. Defining the new program should begin no later than 2004 and be led by the Air Force's Big Safari program office that specializes in running sensitive intelligence-gathering projects.

The recommended baseline for a future communication intercept capability should be the 85000 System now on the Rivet Joint. The equipment suite should be continuously upgraded and eventually re-hosted on the new aircraft, rather than trying to develop a new sigint system. Because the EP-3s will be replaced first, several of the sensor suites would have to be bought for the first multimission aircraft.

In the wake of the demise of the low-band sigint effort--a development that experienced serious technical problems and cost overruns--the House committee insisted the services continue to pursue incremental upgrades to existing systems.

Defense planners are "desperate to improve the health of precision signals intelligence, which has not been so good," a reconnaissance specialist said. "We fired 800 Harms [radar-killing missiles] at $200,000-300,000 each in Kosovo and hit one SAM." The goal is to make fused data accurate enough to hit small targets with GPS-guided weapons.

The intelligence committee notes that the National Security Agency, which manages those efforts, has new personnel to correct "many of the significant infrastructure and modernization problems." But lawmakers fear NSA still isn't fully supportive of reform.

The NSA changes and the FIA reassessment are part of a larger house-cleaning going on within intelligence-gathering organizations that began before Sept. 11. The overhaul also has put the National Imagery and Mapping Agency under new management with the installation of USAF Lt. Gen. (ret.) James R. Clapper.

Clapper has been told to rebuild morale at NIMA and reinvigorate work on the digital point position database. A digital database of 9,000 maps was to have been built at a rate of 3,000 per year. NIMA's actual production rate was an anemic 1,000 maps per year and only 4,000 of the 9,000 have been completed. The database is essential to enable precision bombing within 30-ft. accuracy. What military planners want is a precise database that can be combined with very accurate sigint plots to obtain target coordinates for GPS-guided weapons.

Moreover, the House panel is urging the Bush Administration to consider creating a Technical Collection Agency that would operate all intel-gathering systems. The hope is that such an arrangement would improve cross-collection capabilities and eliminate a tradition of services and agencies developing hardware that cannot exchange information.

Meanwhile, streamlining also is being recommended for human intelligence operations, with the establishment of a Clandestine Service. It would be part of a larger makeover and strengthening of humint the committee is seeking.

As the U.S. buildup in the Middle East and Indian Ocean continues, U.S. military officials have indicated they will structure their forward deployments to avoid destabilizing Pakistan, a country that has long supported the Taliban. Therefore, strike aircraft will not be stationed in the country. "The U.S. doesn't want to create too much presence in Pakistan, so they're going to offload a lot [of operations] to the aircraft carriers and airfields in the Central Asian republics," a defense official said. "The U.S. trained the Uzbek special operations forces who have already operated in Afghanistan. So they will support our combat sorties."

THOSE CLOSE TO THE process say staging for special operations and other intelligence, air refueling and transport will be conducted from the USS Kitty Hawk off the south coast of Pakistan and bases in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. These units will support 3-5-day operations inside Afghanistan and then shuttle periodically to Turkey or Persian Gulf bases for more extensive maintenance.

Assets expected to operate from locations closer to Afghanistan are lumped into the C4ISR category that includes command and control for quick decision-making, intel-gathering and rapid, almost real-time analysis of targets and the movement of personnel and vehicles. "Other than special ops, the aircraft that use those bases will be ISR [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance]. That would give aircraft like Joint-STARS more time on station," the defense official said. He added that the 1,000 troops from the 10th Mountain Div. moving to Uzbekistan are expected to be used to provide additional security for bases there used by U.S. forces.