Dr. Gerardo Melendez, USA PM Combat Identification
Elizabeth Gallivan, The MITRE Corporation
William Kenneally, The MITRE Corporation
Dr. John J. SantaPietro, The MITRE Corporation
Dr. Stephen Wiener, The MITRE Corporation
During the last several years, there have been a large number of design
studies, system simulations, and battlelab experiments that have sought
to improve the integration of UAV-based sensor systems with "shooters"
by providing real time intelligence data to C4ISR C2 Centers.
These initiatives have contributed significantly to the improvement
of the state of the practice of integrating UAV-based sensor systems
with a variety of indirect weapons such as artillery,
rockets, Army aviation, and Air Force Close Air Support systems. Intelligence
and targeting information for these indirect fire weapon systems has
been necessarily connected to "shooters" via C4ISR C2 centers,
because of the complex fire coordination required prior to target engagement.
While indirect fire systems are a critical element of the modern field
army, they represent only a portion of the combat power of a combined
arms team available to armored/mechanized forces. The direct fire weapon
systems of the Army's armored forces (cannon and missile) provide
the Army with an additional and extremely potent capability to destroy
threat forces. Historically,
these direct fire weapon systems have relied on, and to some degree
have been limited to, on-board sensor systems (Commander's binoculars,
gunner's sight system, and thermal
imaging systems) for real time targeting and situation
awareness.
To assess the payoff of providing sensor data from platforms
external to the individual weapon system, MITRE, in support of
the Army PM Combat Identification has developed a simulated
environment for the evaluation of advanced sensor concepts.
These advanced concepts seek to integrate situation awareness
data with point of engagement information for tank crews. In
support of this task, MITRE recently completed a man-in-the-loop
study that examined the operational utility of providing a tank
crew with data from a multisensor (MTI radar, cooperative friendly
ID, and FLIR based ATR) UAV system to assist in maneuver and
target prioritization. The paper will present the results of the
study and its implications for near-real time exploitation of
tactical UAV sensors in direct fire engagements.
