By Carlo Munoz
The Navy program office in charge of the service’s newest unmanned aerial system is looking to integrate Air Force-centric hardware into that aircraft, as a way to close a critical collection gap in ongoing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations.
Members of the Navy’s Persistent Maritime Unmanned Aircraft Systems program office (PMA-262) are exploring the integration of the Airborne Signals Intelligence Payload (ASIP) system currently on board the Air Force’s RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aircraft into the Navy’s Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) UAS, program manager Capt. Bob Dishman said.
Both the BAMS and Global Hawk UAS are built by prime contractor Northrop Grumman [NOC].
The installation of the ASIP sensor platform would be one way Navy officials could meet key program requirements for future iterations of the BAMS aircraft, Dishman said.
The capability development document for the initial increment of the Navy’s unmanned aerial system noted that future iterations of the aircraft would feature more robust communications relays and a signals intelligence capability, according to Dishman.
“Realize that the initial increment of BAMS does…cover a certain amount of the frequency spectrum with electronic support measures,” he said. “What we do not have is the communications intelligence piece, so we would [have to] add that functionality to the airplane.”
As part of that work, program officials are looking at the payload capacity and power currently on board the BAMS aircraft, and what modifications would be needed to get that additional communications and SIGINT into the platform.
“We are working with [N2/N6] staff to further define what kind of SIGINT capability [they] would like to have on BAMS.” The N2/N6 is the Navy’s Information Dominance directorate, which handles ISR requirements and capabilities for the sea service.
One of the advantages of integrating the ASIP into the Navy UAS is that it would build upon the growing Navy-Air Force cooperation on this program. Although the two platforms are designed to meet service-specific requirements, similarities in the airframes and functionality warrant a joint effort to achieve maximum efficiency, service officials have said in the past (Defense Daily, July 2, 2010).
The air service “could probably have a lot of synergy with the Navy if we just adopt the Air Force ASIP payload to meet our SIGINT capability,” Dishman said. “So we are looking at that and [asking] does that make sense or are there other alternatives that meet the maritime frequencies that we are looking for.”
Along with looking at mounting an ASIP sensor into the aircraft’s internal bays, Dishman said that an ASIP payload could also be mounted on an external pylon under one of the wings.
“We do have a couple of…points on the wing were we could provide electricity [and] could house some of the SIGINT,” he said. Mounting an ASIP platform on a pylon “would be ideal” because then the unmanned aircraft would still be able to field its original sensor platform, housed internally on board.
Whether Navy ISR officials opt to fill their SIGINT requirement with the ASIP or not, integrating a signals intel capability into BAMS will be the first step toward developing a “family of systems” to replace the Navy’s legacy EP-3 spyplane.
This “family of systems approach” for fielding an EP-3 replacement will center around BAMS, as well as the Medium-Range UAS, which is still under development by the sea service, Vice Adm. David Dorsett, deputy chief of naval operations for information dominance and director of naval intelligence, said during a Jan. 5 Defense Writers Group breakfast in Washington.
Currently, Dishman’s office is participating in the Navy’s continuing work on the analysis of alternatives for the now-defunct EP-3 replacement program, tailoring that work to focus more on the family of systems concept now being followed by the Navy.
The Navy had been eyeing potential replacement options for the EP-3 since 2009, beginning with an Analysis of Alternatives (AoA) issued that year. However, the White House nixed the entire effort, known as EP-X, in its fiscal year 2011 defense budget proposal.
“I think there are some additional excursions that are going to happen with that AoA, [and] what we are doing now is looking at what capabilities could be out there,” Dishman said.