Unmanned vehicles will be seen on the frontlines sooner then expected with the acceleration of unmanned systems evaluation at White Sands Missile Range.
The U.S. Army Program Manager of the Future Combat Systems announced
Jan. 17 that the Future Combat Systems Brigade Combat Team will start evaluating and training Soldiers to use the Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle and the Class I Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. Originally these systems weren't scheduled for evaluation until 2011, but under the accelerated program evaluations will begin early this year.
The Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle, nicknamed the packbot, is a compact remote vehicle that can enter confined spaces and buildings and transmit video back to provide soldiers with tactical intelligence. The Class I Unmanned Aerial Vehicle is a compact man-portable air vehicle that can provide video feeds to soldiers, providing them with a bird's-eye view of the battlefield. Both vehicles have had a lot of positive reviews from soldiers using preproduction versions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
While both unmanned systems have preproduction variants already seeing combat in Iraq, these new versions will have increased functionality that will provide
The Class I UAV will be upgraded with an early version of the Army's Joint Tactical Radio System. The JTRS is an advanced radio system that according to Boeing, which is developing the system, will allow the Army to establish an ad-hoc wireless network anywhere in theater. Unlike normal radios, this new system will be able to transmit virtually any kind of data, allowing even the smallest tactical unit to share information with nearly any other unit in the Army network. Mounting this system on the Class I UAV means that the UAV will be able to transmit real time video and fly above obstructions to extend the range of a unit's communications.
In total 25 Small Unmanned Ground Vehicles and 11 Class 1 UAVs will be evaluated on their abilities and effectiveness in the field. "Part of the evaluations will be leader training, where the Army will seek opportunities on how to use the UAV for such operations as route clearance and base security," said Richard Fisher, deputy product manager future force unmanned aircraft systems.
Army leaders will begin to learn how to fight with these weapons.
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