World Surveillance Group Inc (fka WSGI)

[rattlewatch]

Fwiw,the poster below ,Move Forward, seems to see a need for these products in his response to Major Matthew Archambault's November 2012 article ,which has been posted earlier.Sounds like there's interest in these,also like that the TDAP will possibly get around flying restrictions and offer the more sercure data feed a tether enables.This poster also offers up peacetime uses for these devices which could enable peacetime procurements maybe?Thanks IJO for pointing out the TDAP,did read it but didn't pickup the advantages of it.


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by Move Forward | December 1, 2012 - 3:20pmLogin or register to post comments


"On an early September patrol out of Combat Outpost Mushan, Rogne located 29 IEDs through the course of a painstaking, eight-hour movement across less than a kilometer of road, an accomplishment relayed through the chain of command to Pentagon generals."

One of your links goes to an article with this quote about one Soldier's heroic efforts to find IEDs. I would argue there is something wrong if we ask troops to "mow the grass" daily to find IEDs that we otherwise could deter with an elevated view of areas troops will habitually patrol near their outposts. Why should the choice come down to using honesty traces to never cover the same ground twice (and thus miss key areas or have events occur after the patrol)...or repeatedly patrol the same areas and invite repeated attempts to kill our troops with IEDs/ambushes.

If we believe IEDs and mines will not disappear in future wars, more assets like aerostats, towers, and UAS are essential for stability operations. The rapid equipping force is experimenting with a system that is part aerostat and part kite that can carry up to 5 times the payload for its size by exploiting winds aloft as a semi-kite. It also can be contained in a trailer pulled by a HMMWV so could much more easily be deployed at smaller platoon and company COPs.

However, your article mentions 30 such aerostats in Regional Command-South. You can imagine the airspace hazard this poses and would pose if the number of small aerostats increased substantially. Flying at night in particular would make seeing the smaller aerostat and tether line very difficult for helicopter pilots. In addition, the area covered by each aerostat remains relatively small and of course it does not help much in offensive operations and may reveal the location of outposts in the defense for indirect fire. UAS allow wider area coverage and can team with manned aircraft to cover the same areas or separate NAI not covered by manned aircraft or practical for an aerostat. Of course UAS and ground unmanned systems also carry larger sensors and potentially carry weapons. Not all networks are within range of an aerostat.

So we still need unmanned air and ground systems, engineers, and route clearance packages for offense to include line charges both large and smaller for dismounts as the rapid equipping force and other systems cover. We should consider integrating more sensor towers into combat vehicles such as the GCV, MRAPs/M-ATVs, and future JLTV. Towers could be kits added onto particular vehicles to raise sensors on telescoping poles to say 30'. Alternately, smaller electrically-tethered quad-rotors could fly off the back of a vehicle-installed kit to fly to 100' and stay on station much longer than fuel or battery-powered vertical take-off and landing UAS.

I also would advocate purchase of something like CROWS-in-a-box that builds on the original idea of NLOS-Launch System and support Decisive Action offense, defense, stability and military support for civil activities.

http://blogs.defensenews.com/ausa/2012/10/24/crows-in-a-box/

Remote systems like this do not need to be fielded to every unit in the Army and Marines. A select number in National Guard units could be dual-use systems for stability operations and peacetime fire-fighting; hurricane, tornado, and earthquake response; and border patrol functions. Substitute fire hoses for machine guns, and include missiles that launch to disperse fire retardants in identified areas (using lethal missiles in combat). Laser designation or range-finding capabilities are also an option for such boxes for the missiles and/or indirect or aerial delivered fires.

Such boxes also could be nodes for other smaller wired sensors to eliminate the problem of battery replacement and cover deadspace such as wadis and culverts with motion sensors. In some cases these sensors could be on box-powered portable light poles near the culvert to further deter IEDs and provide peacetime lighting after emergencies. The hybrid-electric generators powering these boxes also would be used to provide portable power for neighborhoods and gas stations following major weather events such as Sandy where lack of power led to long gas lines at the few open stations.

Again, ideas like Design are great for conceptual planning, but troops still must conduct detailed planning to ascertain how to exploit line-of-sight metrics from elevated platforms to allow more safe human interaction and population security that only the Army and Marines can accomplish on the ground with JIIM-enabler and SOF assistance. Until we can better secure areas for government and NGO civilians, the sole alternative is armed counterinsurgents to provide wide area security.

http://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/aerostats-making-an-impact-in-afghanistan