Published: October 04, 2007
25th Unmanned Aerial Systems Company Always Watching Over The Iraqi Skies
By Col. A.T. Ball
Five years ago when the Global War on Terrorism began, few commanders had the luxury of possessing an unmanned aerial vehicle at the brigade level and below.
Today, however, unmanned systems proliferates the battlefield and modularity provides every brigade combat team a Shadow platoon. With the Army's decision that Aviation Branch has prepotency for all Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), 25th Combat Aviation Brigade established a provisional company to provide one self-sustaining organization for UAS in the Division.
Manned from within 25th CAB, the 25th UAS Company was formed with several critical aviation skill sets and Military Occupational Specialties (MOS) to synchronize battlefield operations for all UAS assets throughout Multi-National Division-North (MND-N) and provide Reconnaissance, Surveillance, and Target Acquisition (RSTA) for all of its combat formations.
A unit comprised of six RQ-7B Shadow Platoons and one MQ-5A Hunter Platoon, the 25th UAS Company excels at delivering combat effects while in support of six ground Brigade Combat Teams (BCTs), 25th CAB, and the MND-N Division Headquarters.
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Upon arrival into theater, 25th UAS rigorously enforced aviation disciplines (standards, safety, maintenance, etc.) within this still developing niche of Army Aviation. As part of this process, 25th UAS established a comprehensive concept of operations (CONOPs) and standard operating procedures. These documents cover a range of topics for UAS operations: job descriptions, aircrew training programs, even Ground Control Station (GCS) emplacement configurations. UAS HQ personnel spent days working hand-in-hand with various Aviation organizations including Directorate of Training and Doctrine (DOTD), Directorial Evaluation of Standards (DES),TRADOC System Manager (TSM), UAS and the UAS Program Manager office to develop and create training tactics and procedures and CONOPs for UAS assets. Numerous personnel from each of these organizations visited many times at the invitation of 25th CAB to assist in this developmental process.
DES provided a courtesy inspection in February 2007 and stated the 25th UAS Company SOP should be the Army standard. 25th UAS also demonstrated to all of its platoons the need for enhanced crew coordination and while working with DES, incorporated Aircrew Coordination Training Enhancement given by the Brigade Aviation Standardization Officer.
Using experienced Aviation officers, the company taught young Standardization Operators and Instructor Operators in the Shadow platoons the proper prioritization of actions to enable multi-tasking in the GCS in order to deal with multiple emergencies, protecting Army assets while properly diagnosing emergency conditions.
In order to ensure Mission Commanders (MC), Mission Briefers (MB) and Vehicle Operators understood mission and risk mitigation, 25th UAS developed a MC and MB Training Program to immerse them into the Aviation Composite Risk Mitigation Process. During the course of the year, 38 personnel successfully progressed to RL1 from RL3 in the company ATP.
25th UAS also incorporated a standardized mission brief in order to prepare each platoon's shift change for upcoming missions in the next twelve hours. To establish safe and effective aviation operations, the unit created a standardized Fighter Management Policy and Risk Assessment Worksheet enabling their formations to adhere to standards that incorporate both system limitations and prior lessons learned into their aviation operations.
Utilizing the extensive aviation experience of the safety personnel assigned, the company established comprehensive safety oversight. Each platoon was able to leverage these personnel to implement an aviation safety program and safety SOP. This contributed to the conservation of combat power during the deployment. By implementing appropriate recommendations from accident investigations, the company increased available combat power.
Safety personnel also played a key role in the development of the Composite Risk Assessment process to evaluate the requisite risks associated with UAS operations and allow commanders to make appropriate risk decisions balancing mission requirements against system limitations.
Nothing demonstrates these facts more than a reduction in accident rates: the Shadows consolidated in the 25th UAS Company posted an accident rate of 23.22 per 100,000 flight hours with only one attributed to human error, compared to an accident rate of 203.21 in the previous rotation.
25th UAS Maintenance played a key role in supporting the fight by developing more robust systems for our use on the battlefield. Improvements to Launch, Recover, Launch (L/R/L) activities occurred in stride with maintenance improvements providing enormous efficiencies to the process. The company created a thorough Maintenance SOP and Downed Aircraft Recovery Team SOP to establish better reporting standards, aircraft recovery standards and many other maintenance standards, enabling the company to complete over 110 engine changes, over 80 x 250-Hour Phase inspections and over 55 x 500-Hour Inspections while still flying 24 hours a day, seven days a week in support of the BCTs.
Maintenance also played a key role in upgrading to new 1101 engines in the Shadow aircraft. Incorporating BFT in both the Hunter and Shadow aircraft enable the ground and aviation commanders to view the location of unmanned assets on the battlefield in order to enhance situational understanding and take necessary actions in the fight.
25th UAS also added a Communications Relay Packages (CRP) in both the Hunter and Shadow platforms enabling long-range communication (up to 200 km) between ground forces or aviation forces throughout MND-N.
Finally, the unit was the forcing function for numerous changes in the checklist and operator's manual including extended engine runs, engine limitations explanations and changes and temperature limitations. Each change contributed immensely to increased coverage and persistence over each BCT.
Operationally, the 25th UAS focused on manned-unmanned (MUM) teaming. Creating dynamic linkages between "sensors" and "shooters" presents opportunities where UAS "sensors" develop the enemy situation allowing the "shooters" to standoff at safe distances. After "sensors" establish hostile intent and positive ID, "shooters" are then able to engage the enemy either through autonomous means or through remote laser designation.
25th UAS broadened the use of unmanned assets from the traditional Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) process to a more operational RSTA focus in the maneuver fight. With the experience added to the 25th UAS, they were able to better integrate unmanned systems into the ground and aviation schemes of maneuver - "mainstreaming" their employment in the division's operational framework and the aviation war fighting function.
25th UAS developed greatly improved TTPs over the past year. Viper Strike and Laser Designation TTPs were codified to better facilitate "Sensor to Shooter" engagements on the battlefield. This led to routine Laser Designation / Payload Operations producing lethal effects. Through effective MUM teaming, the Shadow and Hunter platoons were able to save lives on the battlefield while conducting kinetic and non-kinetic operations against the enemy, limiting exposure of our manned platforms to dangerous SAFIRES.
With enhanced sensor-to-shooter fusion leading to target handoffs and laser designations for rotary wing platforms, 25th UAS had a hand in more than 250 enemy forces killed, more than 50 enemies wounded and more than 50 enemies captured throughout 80 different enemy encounters. Weaponizing the UAV also allowed for the company to further its contributions on the battlefield to include target destruction with small but precise munitions.
Concentrating on the traditional aviation disciplines of safety, standardization, training and maintenance enabled the 25th UAS Company to vastly improve its operations during Operation Iraqi Freedom 06-08. By incorporating new technology - such as communications relay packages for Hunter & Shadow, BFT, laser designation and Viper Strike weaponization - 25th UAS Company is revolutionizing the Army's employment of unmanned aerial systems on the battlefield at the tactical level and is setting the conditions for a successful DOTML-PF build of UAS companies in each CAB when the Warrior UAV is fielded in the near future.
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