Shadow Infrastructure: Supporting the RQ-7 UAS

RQ-7 launch, Mosul

RQ-7 Shadow UAVs can be launched via runway or catapult, and land on runways. They’ve become the mainstay tactical-class battalion/ brigade level UAS for the US Army and US Marine Corps, and have also been exported to a number of countries. Italy and Sweden picked it, and Australia bought it under their JP129 program when their original choice didn’t perform.

The RQ-7B offers a longer wingspan and larger tail than the initial RQ-7A, and can carry a payload of 27.2 kg/ 60 pounds. This usually entails IAI Tamam POP-200/300 or L-3 Wescam 11SST surveillance turrets, but add-on kits can insert useful capabilities like laser targeting, the TCDL datalink, communication relays, or other sensors. The US Marines are even investigating weapon options. Meanwhile, that large UAV fleet needs support.

JPADS: Making Precision Air-Drops A Reality

Strong’s JPADS,
Afghanistan

The dilemma for airdropping supplies has always been a stark one. High-altitude airdrops often go badly astray and become useless or even counter-productive. Low-level paradrops face significant dangers from enemy fire, and reduce delivery range. Can this dilemma be broken?

The US military believed that modern technologies could allow them to break the dilemma. The idea? Use the same GPS-guidance that enables precision strikes from JDAM bombs, coupled with software that acts as a flight control system for parachutes. JPADS (the Joint Precision Air-Drop System) has been combat-tested successfully in Iraq and Afghanistan, after moving beyond the test stage in the USA… and elsewhere.

Rapid Fire Nov. 19, 2012: US Army Weapon Systems

• The US Army released its 2013 Weapon Systems handbook, a 378-page catalog that gives snapshots covering each system’s mission, description, the program’s status, whether foreign military sales are involved, and projected activities over the next couple of years. The unwieldy digital format can be exported to 2 hefty PDF files.

• The Peter G. Peterson Foundation has rounded up fiscal scenarios from several American think tanks that try tackle US federal funding conundrum, or “fiscal cliff” to use the hyperbolic phrase of the moment. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget charted these various alternatives.

• An internal memo from an official at the UK Ministry of Defence notes widespread corrosion on the HMS Astute submarine, sees it as “a cause for major concern.” The boat’s commanding officer comes to its defense.