A number of reports suggest that U.S. Special Operations Command is planning to deploy a new rotary-wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to Afghanistan in early 2010. Meanwhile, the U.S. Marines may acquire a similar UAV that could see action in Afghanistan even sooner. Both programs have the potential — should they succeed — to offer important tactical benefits for U.S. forces.

Analysis

U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) may deploy a new unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) — a helicopter — to Afghanistan as soon as 2010, according to reports from Jane’s, “The British periodical Air Forces and Danger Room,” a defense blog. The U.S. Marine Corps may have rotary-wing UAVs in Afghanistan before SOCOM deploys its UAV, if its search for a viable candidate succeeds.

While a wide variety of unmanned systems are already operational in Afghanistan, the addition of rotary-wing UAVs — if successful — could provide significant tactical benefits for U.S. forces.

Few details are available about SOCOM’s acquisition of 10 A160 Hummingbird UAVs from Boeing (now designated the MQ-18), but it was designed under a joint development program with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Reports suggest that they have been fitted with imaging equipment, weapons and foliage-penetrating radars as well as cargo pods to fulfill several SOCOM needs. The Hummingbird design incorporates a number of breaks from a traditional helicopter design, which gives it improved performance and longer endurance for either ferrying supplies or loitering.

A version of the Hummingbird, the A160T, is also in the running for the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory’s immediate cargo unmanned aircraft system project — its urgent attempt to find an operational UAV capable of delivering supplies (the current requirement is to ferry 10,000 lbs in a 24-hour period over a round-trip distance of 150 nautical miles) to dispersed positions in Afghanistan, where some 4,000 Marines are currently engaged in a major offensive in Helmand province. It is competing with a number of contenders that offer various levels of sophistication and simplicity, including everything from extremely advanced and autonomous helicopters capable of operating from a ship at sea to autogyros (which achieves lift through unpowered autorotation) — the CQ-10A SnowGoose, an already fielded and deployed cargo UAV built by the Canadian company MMIST. MMIST also makes precision air-droppable systems that allow supplies dropped from a cargo aircraft in flight to navigate using GPS guidance to their intended drop zone, which is another important method for resupply in Afghanistan.

Given the urgent requirement, the Marine Corps presently does not have time for a development program, and will be forced to select a readily available design. As such, it has left the mission requirements rather loosely defined in order to attract the broadest possible products. (If the concept proves sound, however, it may well see more interest and development in the future).

Ultimately, Afghanistan is a tough environment for helicopters, with its hot summer climate and high altitudes (“hot and high” conditions that significantly degrade helicopter performance). As such, it is unknown how well these platforms will perform in the challenging conditions. But if a meaningful amount of cargo can be transported by UAV, it may ultimately take some of the pressure off the already strained manned helicopter fleets in Afghanistan. (These systems would provide tactical supply, from established bases in Afghanistan to dispersed units in the field, but would not have any appreciable impact on the strained supply lines through Pakistan.) Because of the rugged terrain, lack of good infrastructure (either roads or airstrips) and the dispersed nature of the population, U.S. and NATO forces rely heavily on helicopters.

In addition, helicopter UAVs could keep more convoys off the road, where improvised explosive devices are currently the deadliest threat to American and NATO soldiers in Afghanistan. In fact, if successful, these new methods of resupply could even make aerial resupply more cost effective than either supply by ground or air.

Meanwhile, SOCOM’s Hummingbirds may prove to be the first rotary-wing UAVs to explore additional helicopter applications in Afghanistan for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, as well as strike purposes. Much remains to be seen in both regards, but these two programs could begin to provide significant improvements in tactical resupply efforts.

This article is published at Lebanonwire by agreement with www.stratfor.com, the world's leading private intelligence provider.

Copyright © 2005 Strategic Forecasting Inc. All rights reserved.

Copyright © 1999-2008 Lenanonwire^®.com. All rights reserved.