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Unmanned aircraft technology improved to better track militants
WASHINGTON, Nov 04, 2009 (Tribune Washington Bureau - McClatchy-Tribune News Service via COMTEX) --
The Pentagon plans to introduce an important innovation on its most advanced unmanned aircraft next year that will vastly increase the ability of the aerial drones to simultaneously track militants.
Unmanned MQ-9 Reaper aircraft now produce a single video feed as they fly continuously over surveillance routes. The new technology initially will increase the number of video feeds to 12 and eventually to 65.
Like the Reaper and its earlier counterpart, the Predator, the newest technology program has been given a fearsome name: the "Gorgon Stare," named for the mythological creature that turns unwitting victims to stone.
"Predators and other unmanned aircraft have just revolutionized our ability to provide a constant stare against our enemy," said a senior military official who like others spoke on condition of anonymity when discussing the uses and capabilities of the system.
"The next sensors, mark my words, are going to be equally revolutionary."
Unmanned aircraft, used both for surveillance and offensive strikes, are considered the most significant advance in military technology in a generation. They not only have altered the conduct of warfare, but have also changed the nature of the current policy debate in Washington.
"The technology allows us to project power without vulnerability," said a senior Defense official. "You don't have to deploy as many people. And in the modern age you want as little stuff forward as long as you can achieve the effects as if you had lots of people forward."
But some officials caution that policymakers should not rely too heavily on the drones.
"It has made some people feel there can be a pure counterterrorism mission without any counterinsurgency strategy," said a government official. "But that isn't truly viable without taking on a certain amount of risk."
Still, there is broad acceptance that whatever strategy emerges from the current debate, unmanned aircraft and new surveillance technologies will play an outsized role.
"It is very promising and will be of great value here in Afghanistan," said Maj. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, who leads military intelligence in Afghanistan. "This will clearly help us prosecute our operations."
Defense officials say the first version of the Gorgon Stare program will allow reapers to gather 12 video feeds from an area of four square kilometers _ or about 1.5 miles _ and will be fielded by mid-2010.
Gorgon Stare is part of a line of advanced technology referred to as wide-area airborne surveillance. The next wide area sensor, to be fielded by the end of 2011, will feature 65 video feeds, providing a viewing area of eight square kilometers, or about three square miles.
The Reapers' primary camera films 30 frames per second. To save bandwidth, the Gorgon Stare will transmit pictures at two frames per second, comparable to capturing every other step someone takes.
Computers will take the Gorgon Stare images and "quilt" them into a mosaic that shows a large swath of territory, military officials said. That will enable the Defense department to keep unblinking watch on a mid-sized city or village _ turning the Reapers into a kind of heavily armed traffic camera.
Such "pattern of life" intelligence is considered crucial for analysts who are trying to hunt down members of an insurgent network. Using the video feeds, analysts will be able to zoom in to different parts of the city, or follow the movement of particular people.
Officials also plan to store weeks of video feeds on computer servers. So in an area targeted for constant surveillance, analysts will be able to look back in time to follow the movements of people or vehicle through that cities.
"Using the all-seeing eye, you will find out who is important in a network, where they live, where they get their support from, where their friends are," said the senior military official. "This gives you the option to arrest the individual, talk to the individuals or ... wait till those people have gone down a lonely stretch of road and take them out with a hellfire missile."
But the roll-out of the new technology will present critical challenges to the military. Once in the field, Gorgon Stare will be generating thousands of video streams every day.
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Werner Dahm, the Air Force's chief scientist, said the scientific challenge for the Air Force Research Laboratories is to develop ways to automate, or partially automate, the analysis of all of the video the wide area surveillance.
"Otherwise, we need rapidly increasing numbers of analysts to convert 'raw imagery' into the 'real information' that our forces need," Dahm said.
Defense officials say improving and speeding analysis of the video and signals intelligence gathered by unmanned aircraft has been as important as the technological advances in collection.
Predator and Reaper drones not only collect video feeds from the ground, but also have the ability to intercept electronic communications from radios, cell phones or other communication devices.
Last year, the Air Force overhauled how it organized its intelligence analysts. For the first time, analysts charged with examining video feeds worked side by side with those listening to the audio collected.
"It is not just video resolution, it is not just signals, it is not just access to analysts," said the Defense official. "What has really evolved is the fact we can integrate a variety of information and analyze it in real time."
The number of Air Force drones available for deployment has increased significantly. In 2006, the Air Force was able to fly six drones at any one time. Now, operators are able to keep 38 aloft at once _ and the Air Force hopes to reach a goal of 50 by 2011.
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With the wide area surveillance technologies, the number of video feeds collected at one time due to expand exponentially _ from 38 today to nearly 3,000 by 2013.
"This is Buzz Lightyear technology," said a military officer. "This is an unprecedented amount of information in warfare."
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(c) 2009, Tribune Co.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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