[004] ~ Sales Plan
United States Defense & UAV activities
~ Predator is one of more than 1,200 UAVs in the US military arsenal; three years ago, there were fewer than 100 in the field
~ 96 Uniform" - Army-speak for a UAV operator - 225 soldiers, reservists, and National Guardsmen train at Fort Huachuca, Arizona
~ Crashing a $550,000 Shadow isn't as catastrophic crashing a $4.5 million Predator or $55 million F-15
~ After being certified 96 Uniforms spend a few months at Fort Hood, Texas before shipped off to the Big Sandbox: Iraq
~ A hand-sized antenna dish on the side of the runway will guide the plane to the ground by transmitting coordinates a lot like GPS
~ Sitting in a Humvee UAV operator flies UAV by using a mouse to point and click pixelated dials and sliders modeled after the ones in a physical cockpit
~ Thanks to UAV imaging and data-transmitting, generals back at HQ now have access to a lot of the same intelligence as their people in the field
~ Drones have become popular because they bring new speed to the battlefield
~ Thanks to UAVs the whole thing, from legal decision to command to execution, may take only few minutes
~ Tacticians call the time line - target acquisition, deployment of force, order to attack, destruction of it - the "sensor-to-shooter cycle" or "kill chain"
~ It's a measure of any military's reflexes; in Gulf War I, the kill chain was often three days.
~ Air Force rules say that only rated pilots, guys trained to pilot a B-52 or an F-15, are allowed to operate Predators.It costs $685,000 to train a pilot
~ In 2002, the Army had 25 Ravens; in 2005 more than 800. The Marines have about a hundred similar Dragon Eyes in the field.
~ By 2010, the military will have nearly a thousand of the tiny, tactical drones.
~ Why the boom? Eyes in the sky keep soldiers from getting killed and company commanders can see around corners and over hills.
~ What next ? The Army's next-generation drone, the Extended Range/Multi-Purpose vehicle
~ The ERMP will be able to stay in the air 24 hours straight and communicate with its pilot via satellite
~ It'll have Viper Strike missiles, packing the sensor-to-shooter cycle into a single drone.
/Attack of the Drones by Wired/
DoD
U.S. Department of Defense Official Website
Army
The United States Army
Marines
United States Air Force
The Headquarters U.S. Air Force
America's Air Force
Barksdale - Louisiana; B-52...
Beale- California; U-2 Program,Global Hawk,The 99th Reconnaissance Squadron (***)
~ U-2 operational sorties average 5 to 9 hours in duration, exceed 70,000 ft
~ and require the use of a full pressure suit/helmet ensemble
~ see Global Hawk pictures
China Lake- California (*)
Cannon - New Mexico; F-16
Twelfth Air Force - Arizona
Dyess - Texas
The 33d Fighter Wing - Florida
Ellsworth - South Dakota; 28th Bomb Wing
The 388th Fighter Wing - Utah
Holloman - New Mexico; F-117A
Air Force Information Warfare Center - San Antonio, Texas
Lackland - Air Intelligence Agency
Langley - Virginia, F/A-22
Minot - North Dakota
Mountain Home - Idaho
Nellis - Nevada; Nellis AFB is the home of America's first operational UAV's (*)
Joint UAV Center of Excellence at Creech,Nevada and UAV projects in California and Nevada (***)
~ The newly created Joint Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Center of Excellence will stand up in October at Creech Air Force Base, Nevada
~ The joint center is designed to improve interoperability and will examine the use of sensors
~ and intelligence collection assets to meet the operational requirements of U.S. forces in any combat environment.
~ It will be an operationally focused organization concentrating on UAV systems technology, joint concepts,
~ training, tactics, and procedural solutions to the warfighters’ needs.
~ The Air Force UAV Battlelab will complement the (joint center), working to provide a common structure
~ for UAV command and control systems, improve interoperability among the various systems
~ and develop the common operating systems, standards, requirements, concept of operations,
~ and training necessary to provide the joint warfighters the information they need,
~ An Army brigadier general will initially lead the center with an Air Force colonel as the deputy.
~ These positions will rotate among the four military services.
~ Once established, the center will have representatives from all four military services.
~ see Units, the 11th, 15th and 17th Reconnaissance Squadron operate from the base.
~ UAV's can be operated remotely and tested on the vast 3.1 million acre Nellis Range
~ They generally remain in military airspace when operated in the U.S.
~ The Wing also supports the Department of Defense (DOD) advance composite force training,
~ tactics development, and electronic combat testing as well as DOD and Department of Energy (DOE)
~ testing requirements and research and development
Air Force will retain its UAV Battlelab, which will continue to coordinate UAV activities at the tactical, operational, and strategic levels
~ The Air Force UAV Battlelab will complement the JUAV COE
UAV Battlelab stands up at Indian Springs
~ Indian Springs is now also the home of the Air Force’s Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Battlelab.
~ One of six original Air Force battlelabs established in 1997,
~ this battlelab falls directly under the Air Warfare Center and recently moved to Indian Springs from Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.
~ Battlelabs find problems, identify solutions and transition them to the warfighter,” said Col. Larry Felder,
~ who commands the unit and also assisted with developing the Air Force’s original battlelab concept
~ The battlelab’s mission is to work UAV problems and then go to industry, academia, and service and national labs system for solutions, the colonel said.
~ Once potential solutions are found, we conduct objective demonstrations to see
~ if the technology, concept, tactics or procedures will actually work and transition the solution to our warfighters,” Colonel Felder said.
~ He believes Indian Springs is an ideal location for the battlelab.
~ Indian Springs is a great place to take UAV Battlelab initiatives into the next decade,” Colonel Felder said.
~ We had numerous successes while the (battlelab) was at Eglin, but the sphere of strategic UAV activity is on the West Coast.
~ Besides the Predators at Indian Springs,
~ Global Hawks will soon be at Beale AFB, Calif.,
~ and the unmanned combat aerial vehicle is being developed at the Flight Test Center at Edwards AFB, Calif., the colonel said.
~ We also have a great relationship with the Navy
~ which is doing its own UAV development in the west at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake (Calif.)
~ and Naval Air Station Fallon (Nev.),” he said.
~ In addition, there is intelligence gathering for UAVs at Beale
~ and our air reserve component is assisting with analysis in Reno, (Nevada)
~ Even though the battlelab core is on the West Coast, small UAV activities will still be staying at Eglin.
~ The battlelab will continue to improve the Air Force’s ability to execute the mission and support joint warfighting initiatives, said the colonel.
~ We’re currently going through a buildup process, Colonel Felder said.
~ We have moved the majority of the organization across country and are building a new team.
~ The key to our immediate future success will be our operating location at Eglin.
~ (Besides) managing our small UAV program, Eglin is the seed corn of knowledge and will be integral to training the new people out here.
~ Besides subject-matter experts at Eglin, the battlelab relies on liaisons outside the organization for assistance.
~ With the help of six liaisons from the Air Force Research Laboratory, Electronics Systems Center and reserve components,
~ our battlelab has the ability to reach back into the Air Force lab system,
~ reach forward into the acquisition system to move technologies from one system to another
~ and look at the mission from a total-force perspective,” Colonel Fedner said.
~ Initially aligned under the Air Warfare Center’s 53rd Wing,
~ control of the battlelab transferred to the Aerospace Command and Control and Intelligence,
~ Surveillance and Reconnaissance Center at Langley Air Force Base, Va., on March 1, 1999.
~ Control of the battlelab returned to the Air Warfare Center in April 2002 as the UAV mission evolved to include weapons delivery,
~ forward-air control and surface attack.
~ Since its inception, battlelab initiatives have decreased the time it takes for UAV products to reach decision makers.
~ Officials have also been able to improve UAV target precision coordinates from sensors
~ and enhance integration with other airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets.
~ Battlelab officials have also enhanced the UAV’s ability to operate in civil airspace,
~ improved friendly force combat identification and illuminated enemy ground targets for attack.
~ Battlelab officials are also looking ahead.
~ We are looking at numerous items for the future, Colonel Felder said.
~ UAVs originally gave us intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, but that has changed with additional roles.
New:
~ We are seeing UAVs used more in the shooter role, and aircraft, such as the unmanned combat aerial vehicle,
~ will give us the capability to carry multiple payloads, pull high G-forces,
~ penetrate airspace that hasn’t been penetrated before and hit high-risk targets without jeopardizing our pilots’ lives.”
~ Colonel Felder said his vision of the future is clear.
~ Our mission is really very simple -- help combatant commanders and warfighters win the global war on terrorism,” he said.
~ The (battlelab force) must exploit any and all the capabilities we can to help destroy the enemy of today
~ and preserve the peace of tomorrow.
Nevada News, keyword for search: UAV
~ the Fallon UAV center (to be closed) succeeded in its prime mission of developing a "playbook"
~ and tactical manuals that will be utilized at the Indian Springs facility
~ When compared with the development of the airplane, the UAV today is where the airplane was in 1920,
~ just 17 years after the Wright Brothers made the world's first flight
~ The biggest challenge at this juncture facing the future of the UAV or unmanned drone aircraft relates to
~ joint services coordination as well as joint weapons and aerial control standards
~ UAVs, which were initially used for aerial military reconnaissance,
~ are now being fitted with weapons, and in coming years will be augmented into Navy carrier squadrons,
~ Air Force wings and Army and Marine Corps aviation units
~ The Indian Springs runways have been upgraded, new housing and hangars are being constructed
~ and 2,500 military and civilian personnel are now working at the facility in the remote Southern Nevada desert.
~ About 500 Air Force personnel are assigned to the Predator squadrons,
~ which operate 80 Predators that are 127 feet in length, have a wingspan of 48.7 feet,
~ can fly 24 hours at a time at altitudes as high as 10,000 feet and carry Hellfire missiles.
~ The Predators have been used extensively in the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts and they, along with UAVs from the other services.
~ They will be tested extensively at the Indian Springs base
Air and Space Dominance
by Air Force Chief of Staff General John P. Jumper/Remarks to the Lexington Institute, Washington, Jan. 28, 2005
~ The JUCAS is a system that the U. S. Air Force, the U. S. Navy have sort of agreed on a general way
~ and a direction we have to take and I think that we're going to be able to start off in that direction here in the near future.
~ What we have to do I think is to take the wonderful work that's been done by DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency)
~ and continue to advance that work as far as control laws, as far as architectures.
~ We need to solve some sticky problems like automatic air refueling.
~ We have to remember that the things that we value the most about UAVs are the things that UAVs can do that men can't do.
~ We don't want to stay airborne for 24 hours.
~ You talk to a U-2 pilot -- about 12-13 hours, they're finished with that pressure suit. They don't want it any more.
~ They've been wearing a diaper. That's ugly. You don't hug your wife when you get down off the steps of a U-2.
~ So you use these things for what they do best and that is persist and endure.
~ So we tackle the problem of automatic air refueling.
~ We do common things like landing gear, engines, avionics and the like,
~ and we create a system where perhaps the independent variable out there is the shape.
~ So that the Navy can have the shape they want to do the work they want done and the Air Force can create a shape,
~ but everything else is common, all the most expensive things.
~ Something like that is what we hope to be able to pursue in the UAV world in working with the Navy and DARPA
~ to continue the work that's been done by DARPA, which by the way is very very very good work. We just need to continue.
~ We must remember that we should not buy a UAV simply for the novelty of not having a man in it.
~ We should buy the UAV that advances the art of war and does things that are profoundly different than we can do today,
~ like -- and endurance is the one that we have proven most valuable in things like the Predator and Global Hawk.
~ I think the first Global Hawk mission was almost 30 hours and collected on about 600 targets.
~ Orders of magnitude above anything we've been able to do before.
Offutt - Nebraska
Seymour Johnson - North Carolina (*)
~ The 4th Fighter Wing had its beginnings in the Royal Air Force of Great Britain.
~ When the Korean War ended, the 4th moved to Japan.
~ In April 1972, the wing deployed to Southeast Asia again.
~ During Operation Desert Storm, the 336th flew 1,088 combat missions.
~ The 335th flew more than 1,200 combat missions during the war.
~ Since the end of the Gulf War, the Fourth has maintained a near constant presence in Southwest Asia.
~ The Fourth has deployed 15 times to Dhahran Airbase and twice to Prince Sultan Airbase Saudi Arabia
~ conducted the first ever F-15E operations from Al Jaber Airbase, Kuwait
~ In 1996 and 1997, the 4 FW deployed as the 4 Air Expeditionary Wing (AEW), to Doha, Qatar, in AEF III and IV respectively
~ In 2000, Rocketeers joined other ONW forces in actively patrolling the Iraqi northern no-fly zone
Shaw AFB - South Carolina
~ Within a week of Iraq’s Aug. 2, 1990, invasion of Kuwait, the 363rd deployed the first F-16s to the Persian Gulf.
~ When Operation Desert Storm began, the 363rd delivered massive air strikes against the Iraqi military industrial complex
~ The 19th and 33rd Tactical Fighter Squadrons subsequently deployed to the Persian Gulf in support of Operation Southern Watch
~ Shaw AFB is home to the Air Force’s largest combat F-16 wing.
Tucson International Airport - Arizona
Whiteman - Missouri,maintains the Air Force's premier weapon system, the B-2 bomber
Vandenberg - California
Edwards Air Force Base - California (***)
~ Edwards Air Force Base played host to an unmanned aerial vehicle symposium
~ About 500 people were bused up to Edwards from the exhibition in Anaheim, to see UAVs on display at Edwards
~ Vehicles on display included the Global Hawk, Predator, X-34, X-36, X-45A Joint Unmanned Combat Air Systems and X-47A.
~ Edwards is the only place in the world where you'll find so many different types of UAVs
~ The range also supports UAV programs by collecting data during missions, providing control room support,
~ data processing after missions are completed and implementing the approval process for the unmanned aircraft safety packages
~ Edwards' range continues to support UAVs, and the upcoming weapons release from the X-45A is their next unmanned aircraft challenge
Air Force Bases in United States - bases in alphaphetical order
Pasific Air Forces
Kadena - Japan
Hurlburt - Florida, special operations
The US Navy
The US Navy
Carrier Air Wing FOURTEEN - NAS Lemoore, California
Helicopter Tactical Wing Pacific - San Diego,California
China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station ***
~ Spread over a 1.126 million-acre complex, China Lake NAWS is home to the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division,
~ Naval Weapons Test Squadron and the Naval Air Weapons Station. China Lake NAWS employs more than 4,000 civilians
~ CHINA LAKE, Calif. (NNS) -- The Navy's Fire Scout Vertical Takeoff and Landing Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (VTUAV)
~ has done its envelope expansion flight test program at the NAVAIR Western Test Range Complex in California in 2002
~ Fire Scout air vehicle flew autonomously for 26 minutes traveling through 21 waypoints as planned.
~ The test flight used a production representative Fire Scout air vehicle owned by Northrop Grumman Corporation
Carriers:
USS John C.Stennis - San Diego *
USS Kitty Hawk - Japan
~ Weapons storage is provided in 54 weapons magazines, accessed by 11 weapons elevators
USS Carl Vinson
USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72)
USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76)
Squadrons:
Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron Three - San Diego
HC-6
HSL 41 Seahawks - Logistics,for example
Battle Cat
HSL149 - San Diego *
Computers and Telecommunication:
Naval Computer Telecommunication Station (NCTS) San Diego
U.S. NCTS Sicily, Italy
Education and Training:
Naval Postgraduate School - Monterey, California
Tactical Training Group - San Diego
Engineering:
Naval Ocean Facilities Program (*)
Security
U.S. Coast Guard
Homeland Security
Projects & Dedicated Sites
Navair.navy.mil ~ West coast of Alaska experiments...
Newspapers as sales lead
Newspapers web sites - links collected & maintained by Small & Smart Inc
Local newspapers may give valuable information and sales leads:
~ California has hot spots such as San Diego, Los Angeles,Silicon Valley and San Francisco
~ Virginia has the world's largest navy base
~ Nevada got the world's largest UAV center of excellence
~ Persian Gulf area has the wold's largest oil reserves and oil producers such as Saudi-Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Iran and Kuwait.
~ Scandinavia excells in wireless technology due to Nokia and Ericcsson.
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