Military History: Naval UUV Programs and NAVAL UGV Programs - Coursework Example

Outline Un d vehicles are viewed as a key component of efforts to transform U.S. naval and other military forces to meet the twenty-first Century military challenges. Naval UUV Programs: Such, Master Plan, transformation effort by U.S. Military, approved by Navy officials, is used stealthy devices for surveying the underwater battle-space, and used for detecting and countering enemies. NAVAL UGV Programs: These efforts of transformation somewhat larger variant developed to support Marine operations in rougher open terrain Abstract: Military strength underpins the U.S. position in the world. The United States need a military strong enough to shape the security environment, to discourage challenges to U.S. interests, and to reduce the likelihood of conflicts. Should conflict occur, the U.S. military should be in position to achieve a rapid and decisive victory against a wide range of potential adversaries – both state and non-state factors. Unnamed vehicles are viewed as a key component of efforts to transform U.S. naval and other military forces to meet the twenty-first Century military challenges. This paper compares and contrasts the two specific efforts and changes adopted by U.S. military to transform, and key policies enacted to effect the desired transformation. Introduction Perhaps uniquely among the military department, the Department of Navy may eventually acquire every major kind of unnamed vehicles (UV) Navy and Marine Corps programs for UVs raise several potential issues for Congress. Recent U.S. Military operations in Afghanistan, Chapman (2001) stressed, have highlighted the potential of unnamed vehicles (UVs) to alter U.S. military operations and improve the capabilities of U.S. military forces. Compared to equivalent manned systems, UVs are viewed as offering advantaged in a number of areas, including the following: lower procurement and operating cost; reduced risk to U.S. personnel; low observability; and the ability to operate in placed inaccessible to people or manned platforms. Chapan (2001) describes the major roles envisaged for military UVs include various forms of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR); communications relay; detection and neutralization of mines and other hazards; targeting; and strike (i.e., attack) operations. UVs may multiply the effectiveness of the manned ships and aircraft that deploy them by extending their “eyes and ears” and by permitting them to perform multiple missions in varied locations simultaneously. As the U.S. military evolves toward more distributed and networked arrangements of forces, UVs are expected to be served as “nodes” (i.e., constituent elements) in the network (Chapman 2001). O’Rourke (2002, p. 6) told that there might be distinctively among the military departments, the Department of Navy (DoN), which includes the Navy and Marine Corps, may eventually acquire major kind of UV, including unmanned air vehicles (UAVs), unmanned air combat vehicles (UCAVs)1, unmanned surface vehicles (USVs), unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs2), and unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs). Various Navy and Marine Corps officers are involved in developing and acquiring naval UVs; much of the more basic development work is being conducted through the Office of Naval Research (ONR). UVs, along with the concept of network-centric warfare (O’Rourke 2002, p. 6), are viewed as key efforts to transform naval forces to meet 21st military challenges (p. 6). O’Rourke (2003, p. 60) discusses that both UAVs and UCAVs are viewed by some analysts as having the potential for changing the structure of U.S. naval aviation, DoN’s UAV Master Plan, released in February 2002, calls for acquiring a family of land-and sea-based UAVs and UCAVs to perform missions in three primary areas: (1) long-dwell, standoff ISR operations; (2) penetrating surveillance/suppression of enemy air defense (SEAD)/ strike operations; and (3) tactical surveillance and targeting operations. Phase I of DoN’s efforts in this mission area is the procurement in FY2003 and FY2004 of two Northrop Grumman long-range Global Hawk UAVs to conduct experiments for developing payload concepts and concepts of operations for UAVs in this mission area (O’Rourke 2003, p. 60). The Navy’s FY2003 budget request includes funding to finance most of the procurement cost of the two Global Hawks. The aircraft would enter service in FY2005 and the experiments would last 3 or more years. Phase II, which is to overlap with Phase I, is called the Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) UAV (p. 61). It envisages procuring a fleet of 25 to 35 operations BAMS UAVs, using information gained from Phase I. Preliminary Navy plans envisage operating squadrons of 5 UAVs from about 5 locations around the world so as to provide surveillance of major ocean areas and adjoining land areas of interest to the Navy and Marine Corps. The UAVs procured under Phase n could be either Global Hawks or some other long-range UAV, such as the Predator B (an upgraded version of the current Predator) (p. 61). The first squadron is to achieve final operational capability (IOC) in FY2008, implying initial procurement date of about FY2006. Department of Navy’s work in this mission area focuses on developing a stealthy, autonomous, carrier based Navy UCAV (UCAV-N). The aircraft’s initial mission focus would be penetrating surveillance; the SEAD and strike missions would follow. The UCAV-N program, initiated in conjunction with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), is structured to follow the Air Force’s UCAV development program so as to take maximum advantage of technologies developed in that program. Current Navy plans call for having the first UCAV-Ns enter service in 2015 (O’Rourke 2003, p. 62), and for eventually incorporating 6 to 9 UCAV-Ns into each carrier air wing. Bowing and Northrop are currently competing to develop and build the UCAV-N. Included in this mission area is the Marine Corps’ Dragon Eye UAV, which is the size of a hobbyist’s model airplane, can be launched by hand, and has a range of a few miles. The FY2003 budget request funding, O’Rourke (2003) continued, to procure about 30 Dragon Eye UAVs; the Marine Corps would like to achieve and maintain an inventory of about 300. Also included in this mission is the Marine Corps’ Dragon Warrior UAV, a small unmanned helicopter now in development. Dragon Warrior is considerably larger than Dragon Eye and would conduct missions at ranges of up to 50 miles (p. 59). The Marine Corps is also absorbing the Navy’s 20 Predator UAVs, consolidating them with the Marine Corps’ own fleet of 37 Predators, and then upgrading the capabilities of the consolidated Predator fleet, to support, according to O’Rourke (2003), Marine Corps UAV operations at ranges of more than 50 miles. Naval UUV Programs: The Navy’s UUV Master Plan, approved by Navy officials in April 2000, envisages using UUVs as stealthy devices for surveying the underwater battle-space, detecting and countering enemy mines, gathering other information about enemy forces, and engaging enemy targets, particularly in areas denied to other U.S. naval forces, such as heavily defended or very shallow-water enemy littoral (i.e. near-shore) waters. The submarine fleet has acquired a single Near-Term Mine Reconnaissance System (NMRS) build by Northrop Grumman. The system, which includes two UUVs linked to the submarine by fiber-optic cable, is deployed through the submarine’s torpedo tubes and gives the submarine fleet an initial, limited mine-detection and classification capability. The Navt plans to keep it in service until the advent of the more capable of Long-Term Mine Reconnaissance System (LMRS). The LMRS, in development by Boeing since 1999, is also launched from the submarine’s torpedo tubes. It is an autonomous UUV that uses acoustic and radio-frequency links rather than a fiber-optic link to perform mine-detection and classification missions at ranges of up to 75 to 120 nautical miles from the submarine. Up to 12 operational systems, each with two UUVs and associated support equipment, are to be procured. As an FY2003 defense transformation budget initiative, DoD is proposing to accelerate FY2003 the start of a program to develop a next-generation, fully autonomous Mission Reconfigurable UUV (MRUUV). The MRUUV, to be launched from submarines or surface ships, is to be designed to accept an array of sensor payloads for performing a variety of information-gathering missions. If started in FY2003, the first version of the MRUUV might enter service around FY2009. NAVAL UGV Programs: The Marine Corps has two principal UGV acquisition programs. The first, called Gladiator, is for a radio-controlled, armored vehicle that can carry a variety of modular payloads for mission such as reconnaissance, search, and target acquisition (RSTA), obstacle breaching, direct lethal machine-gun fire on enemy forces, crowd control (and self-protection) using non-lethal weapons; delivery of obscurants (e.g., smoke); and nuclear-biological chemical (NBC) agent reconnaissance. A single concept demonstration vehicle has been built; it is roughly the size of a desk and weighs about 1,600 pounds, not including the modular payload package on top, which weighs up to 400 pounds. The Marine Corps is working to reduce the base vehicle’s weight to 1,000 pounds. The Marine Corps plans to achieve and maintain an inventory of 192 Gladiators; the first would be procured in FY2006 and enter service in FY2007. The Marine Corps Dragon Runner UGV is a radio-controlled UGV about the size of a shoe box that is intended to support Marine Units in urban combat operations by peeing around corners and examining the next floor up in a building (it is designed to be tossed up a stairway). The first of several prototypes was delivered in May 2002. The Marine Corps wants each infantry battalion to have 27. The FY2003 DoN Budget request includes funding for continued development and for procuring an additional 60 prototypes to be used in developmental tests with two battalions. The first operational Dragon Runners might enter service around in FY2006. A somewhat larger variant might be developed to support Marine operations in rougher open terrain. The Navy is experimenting with small tracked crawler vehicles, roughly the same size as Dragon Runner that would crawl out of the surf and onto land. Potential missions for these devices include near-shore reconnaissance and explosive ordnance disposal. References: Chapman II, Robert E. (2001). Unmanned Combat Air Vehicles: Issues and Outlook. Washington O’Rourke, Ronald (2002). Navy Network-Centric Warfare Concept: Key programs and issues for congress. CRS Report RS20557, Washington, pp. 6 O’Rourke, Ronald (2003). The United States Navy: Current Issues and Background. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, pp. 50-60 Read More