Is there a place for Traditional CAS in the 21st century?

"Ed Rasimus" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 14 Mar 2004 18:11:30 -0500, "Kevin Brooks"
wrote:


"Ed Rasimus" wrote in message
.. .


OK, I misunderstood your initial post. When you said "direct control
of the men on the ground" I assumed you were suggesting an organic UAV
capability in the maneuver element. What you explain now, is simply a
full-blown tactical system with everything but the pilot-in-the-loop.
At some future time, data processing may make that practical, but
right now the wetware is still the most size/weight effective
solution.

Actually, the ground forces are well on their way to having UAV's as an
organic element, even down to the platoon level. The USMC has already
initiated production of the small Dragoneye, which is essentially about a
two man load--the operator uses a laptop to control the aircraft and
observe
the intel feed (and no, it is unlikely to be any kind of weapons
carrier).
The Army has established a squadron/battalion sized ISR element to serve
in
its new Stryker Brigade Combat Teams, and I believe the plan is to have
them
operate their own small UAV's in the not-too-distant future.

No doubt about it. It will be a great immediate intel resource, but it
doesn't fill the bill as a CAS platform--who is going to be
back-packing a meaningful ordinance load for these model airplanes?

In the case of Dragoneye, I noted earlier that it will not be lugging any
ordnance. The initial use of UAV's in the Stryker BCT's will undoubtedly be
purely for ISR purposes, but I would not rule out the future development of
some sort of limited strike role (perhaps dropping submunitions in the
Skeet/SADARM category, or firing the precision guided version of the 2.75"
rocket that they have been developing). The SBCT's won't be limited to any
manpackable systems.



I don't think I was screeching. I agree that there is a bright future
for UAVs with increasing missions. But, I don't go so far as to accept
the sensationalized concept of video game whiz-kids snapped off the
back streets of the inner city to do the job. If you check out the
operators of the current crop of UAVs, you'll find a lot of active and
former fighter types. The hands and the mind still function pretty
well long after the body quits tolerating the high-G environment.

The objective right now for the ground forces is to get useful UAV's into
operation at the lowest possible echelons. From what I have seen
regarding
Dragoneye, it is a pretty simple system to operate. I would imagine the
Army's new focus on rotary UAV's will also emphasize ease of operation (I
doubt the Army wants to commit rated pilots to flying its UAV's as the
USAF
has been doing); trying to attach additional qualified pilots to each and
every meneuver brigade/battalion, etc., to operate their organic UAV's
would
impinge upon the pool of pilots available to fly the manned aircraft in
the
AVN BDE's.

Once again, you are correct with regard to the "eye in the sky"
operation--it doesn't take a lot of training (witness the number of
week-end RC model flyers around the country), but we've been talking
about CAS from organic UAVs. That is going to take a bit more skill
and judgement.

Personally, I don't see UCAV's filling the CAS role for many years to come;
their first employment will undoubtedly be in the deeper BAI role where
fratricide is not as big a concern. But if the Army fields a small UAV in
the SBCT's, it would probably be capable of deploying some form of
submunition or FFAR in the future, and I doubt that they would require any
trained pilots to deploy them. As to the requisite "skill and judgement",
that is a toss-up--we already trust PFC's and Speedy-Four's to operate the
main gun armament of M1A2 tanks, and they can reach out and touch someone in
rather spectacular fashion. Nor do pilot types have a lock on either of
those qualities--I can still remember my brother laughing about the
bulldozer operator he ran into in Danang who said he'd never been up in a
helicopter, so he managed to take the kid up for a flight around the local
area, and even let him get a bit of unauthorized stick time. The kid
insisted he return the favor by allowing Larry to operate his bulldozer
(Larry was not itching to do that, but he did not want to hurt the guy's
feelings); so a few days later he found himself trying mightily to
coordinate the throttle, *decelerator* pedal, control handles, and blade
controls of a D7. He acknowledged that he quite honestly sucked when it came
to doing that job, and when he climbed down afterwards he said the kid just
stood there with a blank look on his face, shaking his head slowly back and
forth, and said, "Sir, I can't believe they let you fly helicopters."

Brooks



Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
Smithsonian Institution Press
ISBN #1-58834-103-8