6 minute read
CRFS
inflight fire on 2 September 2006 led to the type’s early withdrawal, and to the introduction of new ISR aircraft types, offering capabilities more finely tuned to the type of operations being flown in the post-Cold War environment.
Raytheon’s Sentinel R.Mk1 was the end result of a long-running programme to field an Airborne Stand-off Radar (ASTOR) with moving target indication and high definition Synthetic Aperture Radar capabilities. Raytheon was eventually contracted to develop a five-aircraft ASTOR system, using Bombardier’s Global Express business jet as the airborne platform and initially basing the mission system on the U-2’s Hughes (now Raytheon) ASARS-2 radar. The Sentinel’s main radar was known as the Sentinel Dual Mode Radar Sensor (DMRS) and is a Raytheon dual-mode synthetic aperture radar/moving target indication (SAR/MTI) radar based on the ASARS-2, and using Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) technology. Service trials began in 2007 and an Operational Level Ground Station (OLGS) was deployed to Camp Bastion in Afghanistan in mid-November 2008, with two Sentinel aircraft deploying to Seeb airbase in Oman, from where No. V(AC) Squadron flew the first operational Sentinel R.Mk1 mission on 15 November 2008.
Advertisement
INTEL FROM THE SHADOWS
Raytheon also provided six Shadow R.Mk1 ISR aircraft, based on the King Air 350 (and plans are underway to expand the fleet to eight aircraft upgraded to R.Mk2 standards). The RAF officially took delivery of the first of four initial Shadow R.Mk1s in 2009, and these initially operated as a flight of No.V (AC) Squadron, before becoming No.14 Squadron in 2011.
Though the RAF remains coy about the Shadow’s exact equipment fit and capabilities, its state of the art mission equipment was described as including "an under-fuselage electro-optical sensor turret, a variety of integrated sensors and extensive communications capability, managed from operator consoles in the cabin." The EO sensor is thought to be the same as was fitted to the Nimrod, an L3 Wescam MX-15, an electro-optical/infra red (EO/ IR) turret which also incorporates a laser designator. The aircraft also incorporates a forward-looking EO wide-area surveillance (WAS) sensor (which can be used for counter-improvised explosive device work and providing pattern-of-life intelligence).
The Shadow R.Mk1 is also reported to have a Communications Intelligence capability (COMINT) perhaps based on L3’s Spydr combined IMINT/COMINT system, with L3 Rio signals intelligence software, which can monitor a waveband of 20 MHz - 3 GHz, geo-locating emitters, and displaying them on a ‘Google Earth’ style map. Once an emitter has been located, the MX-15 can be used to gather IMINT on the emitter’s user. The Shadow is able to monitor and locate the kinds of communications equipment typically used by insurgent groups.
The concept of operations for the aircraft entails other UK ISR platforms making the initial detection of potential targets, with the Shadow then being tasked to investigate more closely, using its on-
DETECT • LOCATE • PROTECT
See without being seen:
Long range passive RF detection & tracking of airborne threats in 3D AIR DEFENSE
board COMINT equipment to detect the target’s emissions, and recording IMINT of the target using the MX-15.
CLARITY IN AFGHANISTAN
The Shadow’s output was deemed “particularly valuable to ground commanders”, providing their forces with an unprecedented insight into the unique operating environment of Afghanistan. The type’s electro-optical and electronic capabilities were felt to complement those of the Sentinel R.Mk1, allowing analysts to prepare a more comprehensive intelligence product and permitting a more effective and efficient use of combat aircraft, Remotely Piloted Air Systems (RPAS), helicopter-borne forces, and armed reconnaissance vehicles.
It was originally planned that both the Sentinel and the Shadow would be withdrawn from service when operations in Afghanistan ended in 2015. Both aircraft had their service lives extended, and both proved invaluable on Operation Shader, providing ISR over Syria and Iraq. The Sentinel, however, was retired in February 2021, whereas the Shadow gained long term funding and its planned service life was extended, first to 2018 and then through to 2035.
Another ISR aircraft brought into RAF service as a result of the war in Afghanistan was the MQ-9A Reaper. The RAF’s Reaper operation built on the work of No.1115 Flight, which embedded UK personnel in the US Air Forces’s (USAF) Combined Joint Predator Task Force from January 2004, operating the MQ-1 Predator.
This gave the RAF invaluable experience when it began MQ-9A Reaper (Predator B) training in December 2006. No.39 Squadron began operations over Afghanistan in 2007, working out of Creech Air Force Base, Nevada, with an initial six aircraft. Five additional aircraft were procured in 2012 and No.XIII Sqn re-formed on 26 October 2020.
Like Sentinel and Shadow, Reaper had been due for retirement in 2015, but was retained and heavily committed to Operation Shader.
The premature retirement of the Nimrod, and the subsequent collapse of the replacement Nimrod MRA.Mk4 also meant that the options of running on the SIGINTroled Nimrod R.Mk1s of No.51 Squadron, or replacing them with a derivative of the MRA.Mk4 became untenable.
REBUILDING AIRBORNE ISR
The final BAe Nimrod R.Mk1 sortie was flown in June 2011, and the type was replaced by three Boeing RC-135W Rivet Joint aircraft acquired under the Airseeker project. No.51 Squadron took delivery of the RAF’s first Rivet Joint On 12 November 2013, and flew the first operational sortie on 23 May 2014. Two more aircraft were delivered in August 2015 and June 2017. The aircraft are operated as an extension of the USAF Rivet Joint fleet, ensuring they remain at the cutting edge of capability from the point of view of sensor and system upgrades, though some fear that it may lead to some loss of autonomous national capabilities.
With a more COMINT-heavy emphasis than the old Nimrod R.Mk1, the Rivet Joint is arguably better suited to current ongoing operations and the type has been deployed extensively for Operation Shader. There has been some criticism that some ELINT capabilities have been lost with the change of aircraft.
The RAF ordered nine Poseidon MRA Mk1, and five of these are now in service, operating with No.120 Squadron at RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland. The first of these was delivered on 13 October 2020. But although the P-8 has formidable ISR capabilities, the fleet is small and heavily tasked, and is unlikely to have much capacity for overland ISR missions.
Three Boeing E-7A Wedgetail AEW.Mk1s will join the Poseidons at Lossiemouth, replacing the ageing Boeing E-3D Sentry, which flew its last operational mission on 30 July 2021. The Wedgetail promises to bring expanded ISR capabilities, though the tiny fleet size seems likely to be stretched carrying out its primary Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) tasking.
The final new addition to the RAF’s ISR fleet will be an unmanned platform. The 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) confirmed that a replacement for the Reaper would be acquired, with more than 20 aircraft due to be delivered after 2018.
In April 2016 the MoD announced the selection of the General Atomics MQ-9B as the Protector RG Mk1, to replace the MQ-9A Reaper, for service entry in 2024. Protector represents the next generation of Medium-Altitude, Long Endurance (MALE) remotely-piloted, armed, multi-spectral surveillance aircraft, flying for up to 40 hours.
The Protector was based on the Certifiable Predator B, and the US State Department approval covered the procurement of up to 26 airframes, (16 confirmed and ten options) together with a new Ground Control System (GCS).
Most of the RAF’s ISR aircraft will come under the control of the new RAF Waddington ISTAR Air Wing. Intelligence personnel from 1 ISR Wing are spilt into two flights: Apollo Flight and Crossbow Flight. Apollo Flight comprises intelligence analysts who conduct analysis of current intelligence, while Crossbow Flight comprises imagery analysts who directly support ISTAR aircraft.
The ISTAR Wing officially stood up on 17 May as part of the RAF Future Operating Model, an initiative steered by the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston, in an effort to create what he has referred to as the next generation Air Force. The ISTAR Air Wing will comprise the flying squadrons, Air Support Wing, Air Engineering Wing, No.1 Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance Wing and the ISTAR Operational Conversion Unit.
