Predator Success

Captain Scott Swanson of the US Air Force’s Predator Project Office said: “The RQ-1 Predator has successfully completed several combat deployments and offers great capability to commanders in the field”. He added that it was the USAF’s UAV of choice.

At the General Atomic Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI) facility in San Diego, California, where the Predator is manufactured, Swanson predicted that the USAF’s UAV system would remain in demand. Within weeks, the USAF had sent Predators into the skies over Afghanistan.

Spearheading Operation Enduring Freedom, Predator not only provided invaluable motion video to decision makers but also conducted actual firings of AGM-114 Hellfire missiles. In addition to the previous nine combat area deployments, the campaign proved Predator’s reliable real-time intelligence and strike capabilities.

Origins

Attributing its origins to the GNAT system, GA-ASI intended to design and manufacture a new unmanned aircraft with an increased operational and payload distribution capability. This would be achieved by incorporating a line-of-sight C band datalink and an over-the-horizon satellite data link for real-time distribution of intelligence information worldwide.

Using the GNAT aircraft, this concept was test proven in the early 1990s by integrating an external pod housing a Ku band satellite on the top of GNAT’s fuselage. With the success of aircraft and payload control using the Ku band satellite during ground and flight tests, GA-ASI designed the Predator airframe to incorporate an aerodynamically placed Ku band satellite in the nose of the aircraft. Initial Predator configurations included a Rotax 912 4-cylinder, 4-stroke power plant, a Wescam-manufactured 14” stabilised electro-optical infrared sensor gimbal, a C band datalink, inertial navigation and global positioning systems for accurate navigation and target positioning.

As one of the advanced concept technology demonstrations (ACTD) aircraft programmes, a Predator contract for the production of 10 aircraft and integration of the overall system was awarded to GA-ASI in January 1994. The first aircraft flew less than one year after the contract award, and the first three aircraft were delivered to the UAV training centre at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, in October 1994. Predators were deployed to New Mexico for the Roving Sands Exercise in April 1995 and to Key West, Florida, for a special operations command exercise in June 1995.

Predators were deployed to Albania to conduct flight operations over Bosnia, where, using a VHF satellite control link, they flew over 128 missions in support of NATO operations Provide Promise, Deny Flight and Deliberate Force. Predators were redeployed to Hungary in March 1996 to support Bosnian operations. The Predators were now capable of providing all-weather surveillance. The aircraft has also demonstrated its ability to support Carrier Battle Groups during Carrier Group One’s COMPTUEX ‘96. Predator also successfully completed trials in June 1996 with the USS Chicago in which it was controlled by the submarine while the on-board control station received footage from Predator’s onboard optical sensors.

In July 1995, the USAF Air Combat Command at Langley Air Force Base, commissioned the 11th Reconnaissance Squadron. That was the air force’s first operational Predator squadron. In August 1997, the second Predator squadron was commissioned as the 15th Reconnaissance Squadron. These units bore the brunt of regular deployments to the Balkans, middle east and south-west Asia from 1997 through to the present day.

Improvements

As a result of extensive operational experience, the USAF began a series of efforts to increase Predator’s performance and operational flexibility, that included the integration of the following:

• A synthetic aperture radar to allow all-weather operations.

• A Rotax 914 turbo-charged engine to increase the overall payload capacity, endurance and speed.

• A voice relay system to enable the

Predator pilots to communicate from a ground control station directly to air traffic control (ATC) centres over a digital line-of-sight (DLOS) datalink.

• A glycol-based weeping wing system providing anti-ice protection on Predator’s leading edges.

• EMI reduction for SIGINT payload integration, vibration and sound modifications. The test results showed that emissions were much lower than the most stringent RE102 AF external levels, and this allowed for the integration of special sensors.

• Hardware, software, and programme procedures were developed so that a number of Predators could be controlled from a single ground control station (GCS) with each Predator using a single Ku band link management assembly (LMA).

• Additional payloads were added; Laser designators in conjunction with optical sensors, an improved Lynx SAR, developed by General Atomics for increased resolution to 4”, plug and play usability, hellfire missiles on both wings and chemical detection sensors.

• A UAV common automatic recovery system (UCARS) has been integrated and tested extensively in over 400 automatic recoveries during system integration lab simulation and actual flight tests. UCARS provides the Predator with the ability to make a complete automatic approach, touch-down, roll-out, and stop on a runway. This same capability can be used for automatic take-off, which is also in development.

• PC-based multi-function workstations enable users to access pilot, optical payload, SAR sensor, and data exploitation information at any MFW in the ground control station. This flexibility allows users to access information, re-task the aircraft or payload and distribute information during on-going operations.

During these efforts, GA-ASI had initially funded the development of a new unmanned aircraft that incorporated a larger airframe, 50 per cent more payload capacity and a more powerful engine. The objectives of this new variant included an increased operational altitude and quicker speeds for use by both the scientific and military communities. As a significant upgrade to the current high altitude unmanned aircraft system (ALTUS), NASA invested in the Predator B development that includes; Predator B turbo prop, Predator B jet and the science variant ALTAIR that incorporates triple-redundant avionics and TCAS.

Events of 2001

The first flight of the Predator B turbo prop aircraft was conducted on 2 February at the company’s flight operations facility. The successful conclusion of this and follow-on flights confirmed GA-ASI’s design approach and prompted the USAF to consider this new system to meet its transit and payload requirements. By the end of 2001, GA-ASI had sold two Predator B aircraft to the USAF with follow-on contracts for this and the Predator aircraft system in 2002. As testament to GA-ASI’s design and employment concept, GA-ASI was awarded the design innovation award from Shephard Press Conferences at the Paris Air Show held in June.

Throughout 2001, GA-ASI continued to expand the role and mission applicability of its products. Predator participated in a British-US sponsored demonstration entitled Project Extendor. It concluded that information passed from a Predator to a ground-based forward air controller also could be passed to a strike aircraft. Further tests in late 2001 concluded that real-time intelligence information could be sent directly to a strike aircraft in a 9-line brief.

In February aerospace history was made when Predator, integrated with a Hellfire missile under each wing, successfully laser-designated and fired at ground targets at the USAF test range in Nevada.

The USAF’s 11th Reconnaissance Squadron demonstrated its rapid deployment capability in March 2001, when Predator was deployed to Petrovec Airport in Macedonia to assist NATO forces assigned to seal the border with neighbouring Kosovo after rebel groups began to smuggle arms across it. Operating from a civilian airport runway, Predator was deployed for almost a month before being relieved by the US Army. USAF Predators also have been deployed to south-west Asia to support the enforcement of the no fly zone over southern Iraq.

Details of the key role played by the Predator in the Afghan campaign are still emerging but senior US commanders have made extensive use of the aircraft for both surveillance and attack missions. Referred to by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld as a workhorse system, its operational availability rates have remained over 97 per cent. It continues to provide theatre commanders with invaluable real-time intelligence to make informed decisions, day or night and in all-weathers. The medium altitude, long endurance Predator, equipped with optical and infrared sensors, has logged over 33,000 flight hours since programme inception in 1994 and has continued to be a successful system.