US Military, Police Increasing Use of Unmanned Aircraft

by Jim Kouri, CPP Unmanned aircraft systems, or UASs, consist of an unmanned aircraft; sensor, communications, or weapons, carried on board the aircraft, collectively referred to as payloads; and ground controls. UAS have been used successfully in recent operations, and are in increasingly high demand by US forces. To meet the demand, the Department of Defense is increasing its investment in and reliance on UAS, and often deploying them while still in development. DOD has achieved certain operational successes using UAS, including identifying time-critical targets in Iraq and Afghanistan, and striking enemy positions to defeat opposing forces. Some missions effectively supported joint operations, and in other cases, the missions were service-specific. DOD has encountered challenges which have hampered joint operations at times. US law enforcement agencies are currently experimenting with their own version of unmanned aircraft for police operations. Soon the US Border Patrol will use unmanned aerial vehicles on the Mexican border. The first view for most Americans of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle and for Tactical Aerospace Group (TAG) was last year's episode of the hit CBS network series, CSI:NY featured a supporting cast member in the form of a TAG UAV helicopter. The one hour feature episode entitled "The Dove Commission" starred Gary Sinise and Melina Kanakaredes and was directed by Emilio Estevez. The show used a variation of a TAG "C" type UAV helicopter as a member of the elite NYPD Technical Assistance Response Unit to perform on-camera maneuvers integral to the story line. The weaponized helicopter represented in the show was fitted with dual .30 caliber guns, video and thermal vision as well as a laser target acquisition system. The UAV was shown flying through the New York skyline culminating in a firing sequence from the outside of a 65th floor of a high rise building. Although fictionalized in this episode with the NYPD, it indicates the very near future as these and other major departments move to integrate the strategic advantages offered by TAG UAVs into their arsenal of tools to avert crime and assist in surveillance, patrols, incident response and homeland defense capabilities. The remote unmanned helicopter enhances law enforcement aerial capabilities by acting as a force multiplier for their existing airborne assets. This frees the department's existing helicopters, along with their pilots and flight crews, to concentrate on incidents where human intervention and intelligence is needed on site. The TAG helicopter is also a welcome and viable solution to provide aerial capabilities to law enforcement departments that could not otherwise afford to acquire and maintain an aircraft contingent. Sized to be transportable by SUV, trailer or van, the TAG UAV can be deployed in minutes to hover over an incident or crime scene providing crucial video or thermal imaging intelligence. The helicopter can also act as either a communications repeater or a local WiFi hub to provide full multimedia coverage to all law enforcement personnel in the vicinity by providing a downlink to the local command center and to their vehicles or portable handheld PDAs carried by each officer. Unmanned aircraft are more likely to be grounded in inclement weather than manned aircraft and the Defense Department had not decided whether to require all-weather capability. While DOD has acknowledged the need to improve UAS interoperability and address bandwidth and weather constraints, little progress has been made. Until DOD adopts and enforces interoperability and other standards, these challenges will likely remain and become more widespread as new UAS are developed and fielded. DOD's approach to evaluating UAS joint operational performance has been unsound because it was not systematic or routine, according to the Government Accounting Office. DOD has deployed UAS before developing a joint operations performance measurement system, even though results-oriented performance measures can be used to monitor progress toward agency goals. DOD has generally relied on after-action and maintenance reports which have useful but not necessarily joint performance information. DOD has also relied on short-duration study teams for some performance information but had not established ongoing or routine reporting systems. Thus, while continuing to invest in UAS, DOD has incomplete performance information on joint operations on which to base acquisition or modification decisions. In May 2005, US Strategic Command began developing joint performance measures. Sources: US Department of Justice, General Accounting Office, New York City Police Department, Tactical Aerospace Group, National Association of Chiefs of Police Jim Kouri, CPP is currently fifth vice-president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police. He's former chief at a New York City housing project in Washington Heights nicknamed "Crack City" by reporters covering the drug war in the 1980s. In addition, he served as director of public safety at a New Jersey university and director of security for several major organizations. He's also served on the National Drug Task Force and trained police and security officers throughout the country. He writes for many police and security magazines including Chief of Police, Police Times, The Narc Officer and others. He's a staff writer for New Media Alliance (thenma.org), and he's a columnist for TheConservativeVoice.Com, AmericanDaily.Com, MensNewsDaily.Com, MichNews.Com, and he's syndicated by AXcessNews.Com. He's appeared as on-air commentator for over 100 TV and radio news and talk shows including Oprah, McLaughlin Report, CNN Headline News, MTV, Fox News, etc. His book Assume The Position is available at Amazon.Com, Booksamillion.com, and can be ordered at local bookstores. If you wish to sign up for his intelligence reports, write to JimKouriReports@aol.com. Kouri's own website is located at http://jimkouri.us