UAS Missions and their Respective Attributes, Challenges, and Legalities

            There are many missions that unmanned aerospace systems (UASs) accomplish in both the public and civil realms. One of the most well suited missions to UAS is aerial Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR). This mission set it not only a military mission, it is also conducted by police, border patrol, and FBI. All agencies that conduct aerial ISR via UAS share many of the same tactics techniques and procedures to accomplish the task. The type, size, and design of the UASs used in this mission vary widely based on where the mission is being conducted, the budget that a particular agency has for the mission, as well as other mission related constraints that are unique to each agency.     

            Three examples of platforms that accomplish the role of aerial ISR are the MQ-1C Gray Eagle which is used by the US Army, the MQ-8 Fire Scout which is used by the US Navy, and the Qube which was used by the Grand Forks, ND Police department to make its first night time arrest aided by a UAS (Koebler, 2014). The MQ-1C is a standard large fuel powered fixed wing UAS designed for launch and recovery via a 5,000ft runway. The Gray Eagle is capable of flying beyond line of sight as well as loitering for over 25 hours. This long loiter time and extended range provide the US Army with a powerful and capable system for aerial ISR (GA-ASI, 2016). 

The MQ-8 Fire Scout is used by the US Navy to conduct aerial ISR, but it is a rotary wing platform which aids in launch and recovery from ships and boats. The system is capable of flight up to 16,000ft as well as can loiter for over 12 hours. While not as capable as the Gray Eagle, the Fire Scout has the huge advantage of vertical takeoff and landing, which is vital when operating at sea (Northrup Grumman Inc., 2016). 

The Qube by AeroVironoment is a small battery powered quadcopter UAS that is utilized by the Grand Forks, ND police department to aid in criminal surveillance, which is the police version of ISR. The Qube is capable of only 40 minutes of flight and has a line of sight range of only 1km, but meets both the mission requirements and budgetary constraints of a small police department (AeroVironment Inc., 2016).

            The mission requirements vary depending on where and when the mission takes place, but there are some major considerations that must be taken in to account when selecting a UAS platform. Most aerial ISR systems need to be able to gain a vantage point that humans cannot typical achieve on foot. This means that they need to be well above the target. For high value targets in Afghanistan it could mean 20,000ft loiter altitude. For a ship or marine target, 10,000ft above the ocean may be the right solution. For a police chase in an urban area, a 400ft altitude could be adequate. The other main mission task that must be executed is relaying the video photography of the target back to the operator in near real time. Regardless of size, platform type, or cost, this function is accomplished at all levels for aerial ISR UASs.

            The major challenges for conducting aerial ISR can be two fold, there are platform based challenges as well as payload based challenges. In terms of platform challenges, achieving beyond line of sight flight is expensive and technologically advanced. The use of third party satellites is expensive as well as complex. Another aspect of flying beyond line of sight domestically is that is regulatory restrictive (Anderson, 2016). One Major benefit of utilizing UASs for aerial ISR is that they can remain in the air longer than most other manned platforms. Compared to systems like the MQ-12 Liberty manned airplane that is flown by the US Air Force, most UASs regardless of size can outlast it while conducting an ISR mission. The MQ-12 can only stay aloft for 6 hours without having to break station to refuel (Airforcetechnology.com, 2016). The MQ-1C can last a full 25 hours on one tank of fuel (GA-ASI, 2016).

            There are multiple legal and moral issues that often are challenging for UAS to be utilized in aerial ISR mission, and even more so when UASs are equipped with munitions such as the hellfire missile. In the case of a military UAS conducting ISR and firing hellfires there is a moral issue as to who is to blame in case of collateral damage cause by improper target identification, or lack of target area situational awareness (McGuire, 2015). There are major legal issues when conducting ISR domestically by the police. The main issue is privacy. Privacy is a huge concern for the American public, and when conducting police action, the use of a UAS could require a warrant depending the state. California is a very conservative state when it comes to UAS use by the police. Recently the state assembly approved a law requiring police to get a warrant to use a UAS to conduct a search (Bailey, 2014). Other states are working through litigation to determine the legality of UAS surveillance by police, but there are many challenges both perceived and actual to utilizing UASs for aerial ISR both domestically and deployed.       

References

AeroVironment Inc. (2016). Visit AeroVironment Inc. Retrieved October 18, 2016, from https://www.avinc.com/uas/view/qube

Anderson, R. (2016, September 24). The opportunities and challenges of flying drones beyond line of sight (BLOS) | Commercial Drones Blog | Aviassist. Retrieved October 18, 2016, from http://www.aviassist.com.au/commercial-drones-blog/opportunities-challenges-flying-drones-beyond-line-sight-blos/

Bailey, R. (2014, August 05). California Assembly Passes Bill Requiring Police to Get a Warrant for Surveillance Drones. Retrieved October 18, 2016, from http://reason.com/blog/2014/08/05/california-assembly-passes-legislation-r

GA-ASI. (2016). Gray Eagle UAS. Retrieved October 18, 2016, from http://www.ga-asi.com/gray-eagle

Koebler, J. (2014, October 2). Police Used a Drone to Chase Down and Arrest Four DUI Suspects in a Cornfield. Retrieved October 18, 2016, from http://motherboard.vice.com/read/police-used-a-drone-to-chase-down-and-arrest-four-dui-suspects-in-a-cornfield

Maguire, L. (2015, September 26). The Ethics of Drone Warfare. Retrieved October 18, 2016, from http://www.philosophytalk.org/community/blog/laura-maguire/2015/09/ethics-drone-warfare

Northrup Grumman Inc. (2016). Fire Scout. Retrieved October 18, 2016, from http://www.northropgrumman.com/Capabilities/FireScout/Pages/default.aspx?utm_source=PrintAd

The TDR-1 (1943) vs The MQ-1C (2016)

     One of the oldest UASs that utilizes a video camera and had the ability to drop ordinance is the TDR-1. In 1943 the US Navy worked with both the RCA television company and the Interstate Engineer Company to produce the TDR-1. This aircraft was made out of plywood and tubular steel and weight in at over 5,900 pounds (not including munitions). The aircraft was capable of flying over 495 NM in a single mission and could carry a 2000 pound bomb or torpedo. The radio control system and RCA television camera could be broadcasted about 8 miles to either a ground control station or a flying mothership. Considering TVs and radio controlled systems were just being invented around this time, it was an extremely cutting edge system that proved to be a capable system in combat. In 1945 the TDR-1 actually saw real combat and took out an enemy ship off the cost of the Russel Islands (Newport News Ship Building Inc., n.d.). Looking at UASs of today this system can be compared to the MQ-1C Gray Eagle due to their similarities and methodologies.

The TDR-1 Assault Drone

Similarities

            The TDR-1 and the MQ-1C both utilize video capture as a form of munition guidance and target acquisition. Both systems utilize a ground control station and portions of the electromagnetic spectrum to control both the aircraft itself and the munitions they carry. Both were fixed wing platforms and both had quite a good mission endurance range. The TDR-1 could carry over 2000 pounds of either bomb or torpedo and the MQ-1C can carry 400 pounds of precision guided munitions (GA-ASI Inc., 2016). These major broad stroke concepts are near mirror images, but upon further investigation one can see that much of the technology equipped on the MQ-1C has truly evolved dramatically since 1943. Many of the sub systems that have evolved did not only evolved for the UAS industry, but can attribute their evolution to the computer evolution, the camera evolution, and aeronautical evolution that has taken place since 1943.

The MQ-1C Gray Eagle 

Differences

            Some of the major differences has to do with the fact that integrated circuits did not exist until 1958 (TI Inc., 2008). Much of the computing was accomplished by vacuum tubes. This limited command and control to very simple techniques. Setting the altitude for the TDR-1 was done through dialing a rotary phone dial and have each number represent a particular altitude above ground level (Newport News Ship Building Inc., n.d.). As global navigation techniques evolved into GPS and INS sensors, the idea of following a UAS with a mothership or using just line of sight to figure out where it is became obsolete. The MQ-1C is equipped with redundant GPSs and INSs in order to ensure the operator knows exactly where the system is even when operating via satellites beyond line of sight (GA-ASI., 2016). Another major difference between the TDR-1 and the MQ-1C is that the MQ-1C utilizes digital communication technology. Along with an advancements in camera technology, the swap to digital communication methods allowed for much higher bandwidth communication as well as much further communication distances to include beyond line of sight.

The Future

            Looking even further into the future and taking notes from what we have seen evolved since 1943, one can see there is a bright future of UAS technology. Some of the major initiatives in the department of defense have to deal with simplification and automation of unmanned systems in general. Taking the need for highly skilled operators, and huge logistic supply chains out of the equation is one of the most vital aspects of future success of many of the current UAS programs. Much of these goals will be accomplished through standardizing future technologies, creating modular payload and interoperability with both manned and other unmanned systems (Department of Defense, 2013).   

References:

Department of Defense. (2013). Unmanned Systems Integrated Road Map FY 2013-FY2038. Retrieved September 13, 2016, from http://www.defense.gov/Portals/1/Documents/pubs/DOD-USRM-2013.pdf

GA-ASI Inc. (2016). Gray Eagle UAS. Retrieved September 13, 2016, from http://www.ga-asi.com/gray-eagle

Newport News Ship Building Inc. (n.d.). TDR-1: First Operational US Navy Drone... Successful in Combat in 1944! Retrieved September 12, 2016, from http://www.nnapprentice.com/alumni/letter/TDR_1.pdf   

TI Inc. (2008). Texas Instruments - 1958 Jack Kilby invents integrated circuit. Retrieved September 13, 2016, from http://www.ti.com/corp/docs/company/history/timeline/semicon/1950/docs/58ic_kilby.htm

    

US Army. (2016). MQ-1C Gray Eagle Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS). Retrieved September 13, 2016, from http://asc.army.mil/web/portfolio-item/aviation_gray-eagle-uas/