Issue Brief #14
July 3, 2002
Reclaiming
the Low Altitude Battlespace:
The proliferation of
numerous and inexpensive infrared guided, hand-held, anti-aircraft missiles,
know as MANPADs, have made the low altitude battlespace an increasingly
dangerous place to operate for US and allied forces in recent years.
Cheap, lethal, and possessing increasingly sophisticated capabilities,
these missiles threaten the special operations, transport, and tactical forces
who have been so critical to US success in Bosnia, Kosovo, and Operation
Enduring Freedom. Off-the-shelf and
available now, special materials decoys and the systems that employ them can
reclaim this battlespace and provide here-to-fore unequalled protection.
These
increasingly sophisticated MANPADs developed by many nations – friend, foe,
and unaligned -- are widely proliferated because they are cheap, effective and
easy to use. Carried and fired from
the shoulder by one soldier, their sheer numbers, small size and easy
concealment make MANPADs the most lethal low altitude threat. Effectively used by Afghan fighters against Soviet troops in
the 1980s, MANPADS are widely credited with turning the tide of battle and
driving the Soviets from Afghanistan. They
are especially lethal against helicopters and transports.
Special
Materials (SM) Decoys, covert and virtually invisible when used, are the key
elements of all three services IR countermeasures development programs that have
recently moved from development into full production.
The USAF Advanced Strategic and Tactical Expendables (ASTE) program uses
SM in three of its four decoys and requires only incremental funding for the
testing required to move them to full employment in the fighter, transport, and
helicopter fleets. The Army
Advanced Infrared Countermeasures Munitions (AIRCMM) program provides helicopter
protection levels never before achieved. Neither
program requires expensive aircraft modifications beyond the installation of
off-the-shelf countermeasures dispensing systems (CMDS) such as the ALE-45 and
ALE-47 already on many aircraft. Long
a proponent of SM, the US Navy employs them on all airborne platforms fitted
with CMDSs.
But
the threat never sleeps, so the requirements and development communities in the
Department of Defense (DoD) and defense industry have rapidly taken
self-protection to the next level with the concept of pre-emptive protection.
First developed and perfected by the USN for the F-14 and now the USAF
for the F-15, the BOL and MJU-52/B programs were designed to defeat the threat
missiles by denying them the ability to track and launch.
The USAF COMET program, developed from off-the-shelf components,
equipment, and SM countermeasures technology will allow aircraft such as the
A-10 to reclaim the low altitude battle space for up to thirty minutes by
denying the enemy the ability to launch a missile.
It will allow tactical transports such as the C-130, who are at risk
daily throughout the world in peacekeeping, peace support, and humanitarian
operations in contested areas worldwide, the time to take-off and climb through
the low altitude threat band, or to descend through it to land.
Therefore, it is essential
that DoD robustly fund the test and development efforts that rapidly blend new
and existing technologies and equipment at minimal cost to protect America’s
service men and women who are at risk at this very minute.
By providing for these innovative efforts and ensuring resources are
available to test, translate, and perfect them to real-time combat defensive
capability, those charged with this task will reclaim the low-altitude
battlespace and, once again, make it the domain of the “good guys.”
Our special operations, transport, and fighter forces critically need the
capability to operate and survive in this environment.
I urge Congress to support these low-cost and innovative efforts to give
our military the tools it needs to get the job done.
Jim
Gibbons
Member of Congress (NV-02)
Electronic Warfare Working Group
Congressman Joe Pitts, Founder and Co-Chairman
420 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
202 225-2411 phone 
202 225-2013 fax