"CENTCOM Looks to Boost ISR Capabilities in 2008-2009" discussed the growth of local US military surveillance/strike capabilities, and SecDef Robert Gates' strong support for more attention to the needs of the counterinsurgency fight. Surveilance is part of that, but it needs to be backed by action. "Mortars from Aircraft? The Shadow Knows..." and "Task Force ODIN: In the Valleys of the Blind..." discussed pending and emerging approaches that tie UAVs, manned propeller planes, artillery, and helicopters into a cohesive, fast, and flexible solution for finding, identifying, and capturing or killing opponents.
Another piece of that puzzle is about to fall into place. The US Army's RQ-7 Shadow UAVs are currently too small to carry weapons, but their surveillance turret's laser rangefinder can designate GPS locations for JDAMs and related bombs, Excalibur 155mm artillery shells, and GMLRS 227mm rockets. That's useful, but maximum unarmed effectiveness requires a lightweight laser designator that would add the ability to actively mark targets for weapons like Helfire missiles, laser-guided 70mm rockets, or Paveway bombs. That way, the small and relatively cheap RQ-7s could mark targets for any component of Task Force ODIN.
The first challenge is making a full laser rangefinder and designator that's powerful enough, but still small enough and light enough to fit on the Shadow UAVs. The second challenge involves making that solution part of Army systems that stretch beyond the Shadow UAVs carring it
Feb 12/09
Texton subsidiary Army Armaments Incorporated(AAI) in Hunt Valley, MD receives a $9.3 million cost plus fixed fee contract modification, exercising options for additional engineering hours re,ated to these Shadow UAV modifications. These servies are related to low-rate initial production of Laser Designators, Tactical Common Data Link(TCDL) interoperability, and integration with the Army's Universal Ground Control Station and Universal Ground Data Termianl.
Work will be performed in Hunt Valley, MD, with an eatimated completion date of April 30/09. One bid was solicited and one bid received by the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command in Redstone Arsenal, AL (W58RGZ-08-C-0033)
