Surveillance: Surveillance in the Land domain | ADM July 2012

For Australia, surveillance in the land domain ranges from satellite-based intelligence and a UAV circling high above a valley in Afghanistan, to the binoculars of a NORFORCE patrol slogging through the scrub in a remote area of the Northern Territory.

While limited tactical capabilities are provided by ADF assets such as ground surveillance radars and ASLAV-mounted multi-spectral surveillance suites, the vastness and complexity of the ADF’s primary operational environment (POE) coupled with operational demands means the bulk of land surveillance requirements is now provided by airborne sensors.

Nowhere is the increasing ubiquity and sophistication of this capability more evident than in the belated but subsequent rapid growth in the ADF of UAVs in the Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) role.

When the ADF first deployed into Iraq in 2003 it had no UAV battlefield surveillance capability.

This gap was filled on an interim basis by the hand-launched Elbit Skylark.

Problems with link loss during flight led to replacement of the entire fleet with a digital variant in 2008.

Whether the new aircraft were improved Skylark 1s or the much-enhanced Skylark 1 LE, which features a 50 per cent increase in endurance to three hours, an operational ceiling of 1,500ft and an extended mission radius of 15km, has not been disclosed.

It was not until December 2006 that a $145 million contract was awarded to Boeing Australia teamed with Israeli Aircraft Industries as launch customer for the IAI medium-level I-View 250A system.

The telling issue here is that the original Airborne Surveillance for Land Operations program (Joint Project 129) had been approved by the ADF as far back as 1997, and that only after the consolidation of various Defence surveillance projects the previous year.

Notwithstanding this extraordinary gestation period, seemingly intractable integration difficulties led to the cancellation of the I-View contract in September 2008. The problems are believed in part to have included ITAR issues involved in the transfer and integration of US Tactical Command Data Link (TCDL) technology into an Israeli system.

Boeing and its subsidiary Insitu had meanwhile offered the lightweight, catapult-launched ScanEagle UAV system to the ADF as a stop-gap measure and it was first deployed to Iraq in 2006, followed by Afghanistan in mid-2007. Since then ScanEagle has flown approximately 32,000 hours in Afghanistan and more than 6,200 missions in support of Australian troops in Uruzgan province – an average of 22 hours per day over a period of four years and 10 months.

During the later stages of its deployment ScanEagle was equipped with the Kestrel ground moving target indicator (GMTI) for electro-optical/infrared sensors developed by Australian company Sentient. This analyses imagery from the ScanEagle in real time and automatically alerts the air vehicle operator to small, moving targets such as dismounts and camouflaged vehicles that can easily be missed in mountainous and urban terrain.

This is of particular importance in the range of missions performed by ScanEagle – patrol and convoy reconnaissance and overwatch, counter-IE D surveillance and, taking advantage of the platform’s 20-hour endurance, persistent surveillance to establish “ patterns of life” in specific areas. Electro-optical and infra-red imagery is fed directly to Battle Group Headquarters and then disseminated more widely via the coalition ISTAR network.

Notwithstanding ScanEagle’s undoubted operational success, the need for greater intelligence gathering and even greater loitering capability led to the lease in 2010 under Operation Nankeen of three IAI Malat Heron medium range, long-endurance UAVs from Canadian service provider McDonald Dettwiler and Associates. Two remain at Kandahar while the third is being used for training in Australia, largely at Woomera.

The 1.1 tonne Heron can stay airborne for more than 30 hours and, befitting its definition as a Remotely Piloted Vehicle, represents the first time the RAAF has operated a remotely-piloted platform in its own right although Army shares in its support.

Such endurance has reinforced the benefits of Kestrel in helping fatigued observers by drawing attention to targets outside their actual field of vision.

While ScanEagle has now been withdrawn, Heron sorties are continuing during the introduction to service of the first of two RQ-7B Shadow 200 tactical UAV systems ordered in 2010 at a cost of $175 million under the long lived JP129 project.

The four initial aircraft of the first Shadow system, which will eventually comprise nine aircraft, ground control stations, ground data terminals, launchers and a tactical automatic landing system, were delivered to Tarin Kowt in March and by mid-May had already flown more than 1,000 hours. The second system was due at Enoggera about mid-year and will be used for training personnel prior to deployment to Afghanistan.

Endurance is limited to 8-9 hours, which may help account, along with allowances for attrition, for the ADF’s decision to acquire nine platforms per system instead of the normal five. This relatively restricted endurance may also see the continuation of the longer-legged Heron in more strategic tasking.

Each Shadow carries electro-optic and infra-red cameras, a laser pointer for target marking, a laser rangefinder for target geolocation, a laser target designator for use with laser-guided munitions engagement, an inflight programmable secure communications relay payload, and a Mode 4 Identification Friend or Foe transponder.

This theoretically gives each air vehicle the ability to provide coverage of a brigade area of interest for up to four hours at 50km from the launch and recovery site. Maximum range, limited by data link capability, is 125km and operations are generally conducted at 8,000-10,000ft during the day and 6,000-8,000ft at night.

At the top of the manned land surveillance foodchain are the RAAF’s AP-3C Orions, which since 2003 have chalked up more than 20,000 hours of operational missions in support of operations in the Middle East. The initial focus on maritime operations in the Gulf region was quickly expanded to supporting coalition land operations firstly in Iraq, then Afghanistan. Some 70 per cent of sorties undertaken by the two AP-3Cs based in the United Arab Emirates are now conducted overland in support of ground forces.

Surveillance images are captured by a fully integrated version of the FLIR Systems Star Safire III EO/IR system which is linked to the AP-3C’s digital, track-whilescan ELTA 2022 multi-mode radar.

Installed in a retractable chin turret under the nose radar, the gyro-stabilised EO/IR system provides real time high resolution colour television and infra-red imaging. This is transmitted in real time to commanders on the ground via Tactical Common Data Link, allowing the aircraft to provide imagery well beyond line-of-sight over ranges of more than 150 nautical miles.

The system is thought to include a laser pointer and illuminator, and a laser rangefinder. The AP-3Cs are also believed to be fitted with an effective SIGINT/ELINT capability focused on identifying and locating transmissions from the mobile phones and handheld digital radios favoured by the Taliban.

Defence also has access to much of the data collected by US satellite-based surveillance assets, although delays of hours or days can apparently be experienced between requests being made by the Defence Imagery and Geospatial Organisation (DIGO) and imagery being provided.

In some instances aircraft could provide a faster turnaround, and Defence can now call on the ATFLIR (Advanced Targeting Forward Looking Infrared) pods of the RAAF’s F/A-18F Super Hornets. These pods have a slant range of 48km at heights of up to 50,000ft and represent a significant advance on the Lightning II pods equipping the F/A-18A/B ‘classic’ Hornets.

However, receiving high resolution images from the FLIR pods in real time rather than when the aircraft returns to base will require a high band satellite communications link for the Super Hornet which is not yet available.

On the ground, Army has received 58 AMSTAR (Australian Man Portable Surveillance and Target Acquisition) ground surveillance radar systems with the all-weather ability to detect personnel, vehicles and helicopters at ranges of up to 40km. The radar also provides an indirect all-weather, day/night target acquisition and fire adjustment capability for artillery observers.

Although AMSTAR can be carried by two soldiers and operated by one, 15 systems utilising a nine metre telescopic mast are being fitted to the ASLAV-S surveillance variant of the Australian Light Armoured Vehicle.

AMSTAR on each ASLAV-S is being integrated with the US-manufactured Multi-Spectral Surveillance Suite (MSSS), a suite of electro-optical sensors providing a day/night surveillance and targeting capability through a combination of stabilised infra-red and colour day cameras and a laser rangefinder.

The integration of AMSTAR and MSSS will facilitate long-range target detection and “slew to cue” automatic alignment of the sensor package to the target, although the replacement on the ASAV-S of the French RASIT ground surveillance radar with AMSTAR has reportedly not been without its difficulties.

The practical implications for the ISR domain of the defence cuts in the Budget await the release of the next Defence Capability Plan. This must take into account not only financial constraints but also the implications of the ADF’s staged withdrawals from Afghanistan, Timor and the Solomons against the requirements of Force 2030 – whether that construct as originally conceived still remains valid.

As currently envisaged, the replacement of the 18 AP-3Cs – and presumably the single P-3C SIGINT/ELINT platform – will begin in 2017 by a combination of eight Boeing 737-based P-8A multimission aircraft and (from 2022) by up to seven large multimission UAVs, all of which will be configured for land as well as maritime surveillance.

In the case of the P-8As, this will require their radar to include a ground moving target indicator to detect and track targets overland and provide high-resolution radar imagery to support ISR missions. The ability to provide EO/IR real time full motion video or imagery to the cockpit or the soldier will also be key.

The onward march of technology means the Shadow systems will require upgrading or replacing within 10 years, while a decision on a replacement for the current Skylark fleet is due no later than next year under JP129 Phase 4. This seeks an ongoing ISR capability for land forces operations together with the ability to operate from or within confined areas such as urban environments.

The 2009 Defence White Paper disclosed that Australia as a matter of priority would acquire its own surveillance satellite, probably based on a high resolution, cloud-piercing synthetic aperture radar. Although no further official details have been forthcoming, a secret US Embassy cable published by Wikileaks revealed that Australia and the US had agreed in 2008 to share intelligence derived from surveillance satellites.

Future land-based tactical surveillance will be heavily influenced by the requirements and the still nascent capabilities of the Land Combat Vehicle System being developed under Land 400 and the wider future Combined Arms Fighting System.