ROVER Sics TacAir on America's Enemies
Posted 04-Jan-2006 06:17
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Also on this day: 04-Jan-2006 ยป
Start with this..."ROVER" is an unimpressive piece of equipment. Mostly, it looks like a ruggedized laptop with antennas. But SpaceWar.com quotes Lt. Col. Gregory E. Harbin, of the 609th Combat Operations Squadron at Shaw Air Force Base, SC, who says "...the ROVER is bringing a phenomenal capability to our people on the ground." ROVER is the Remotely Operated Video Enhanced Receiver, which receives camera images from nearby aircraft and UAVs (somewhat like Israel's wrist-mounted V-RAMBO), then integrates them with other US positioning and targeting software.
Staff Sgt. Justin Cry, a Shaw Joint Tactical Air Controller (JTAC), has a job that's an art form at the best of times. Describing features from the ground to a pilot looking down while flying at high speed is no easy task. He used the system in Iraq and in New Orleans, and says simply: "I can circle an area on my screen, drawing arrows for emphasis, and what I'm drawing appears on (the pilots') screens as well."
Col. Harbin notes that many of the improvements came from "X-Box Generation" troops asking questions and making lists of things they wanted, but key groups within the Pentagon have also pushed the effort forward. Col. James G. "Snake" Clark, the troubleshooting Director of the US Air Force Combat Support Office, adds:
Add an A-10..."We piped Predator video directly to the AC-130 gunship beginning in Operation Enduring Freedom. We also now can send Predator video to tactical air control parties on the ground equipped with the ROVER man-pack kit, a laptop computer with an omnidirectional antenna, so they can see what the Predator is looking at, as well as see the target location data that the Predator is producing.
We've also done operational testing of the Litening II targeting pod on an A-10 downlinking a freeze-frame image of the target it is looking at to the ROVER, so the ground control team can be certain that the pilot is going to attack the right target. We plan to add the same capability to the Sniper XR targeting pod."
"Black Lions" F-14D
(click to view full)The "Black Lions" of Navy Fighter squadron VF-213 appreciated ROVER. A joint investigation with the VF-31 "Tomcatters" revealed that it would be possible to modify their F-14D Tomcats aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt [CVN 71] with off-the-shelf technology for a mere $800 per aircraft, in order to allow rover streaming. A team of F-14D experts from the PMA-241 staff at Naval Air Station Paxtuxet River, MD was presented with this idea in early November 2005, and were able to research, develop, and field this technology within a six-week window, giving the old F-14D "Bombcats" a new capability that will keep them competitive with newer aircraft on their last operational deployment.
VF-213 has already flown more than 281 sorties on this deployment for Operation Iraqi Freedom, totaling more than 2,200 hours including 1,730 combat hours. At this rate, The Black Lions are outpacing all previous air wing squadrons in terms of number of both OIF sorties and combat hours flown. The focus of the OIF missions have primarily been in support of coalition troops in direct contact with insurgents, convoy escorts and patrolling routes in search of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), and supporting raids. The Black Lions have dropped more than 5,000 pounds of ordnance and have engaged insurgents on several occasions with precision bombs or strafing runs.
