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The U.S. Air Force is considering using helium-filled vehicles that combine many of the benefits and capabilities of satellites and unmanned aerial platforms, but at a lower cost, according to a service official.
Air Force Space Command's Space Battlelab plans to conduct a variety of experiments in this area over the next several years, said Lt. Col. Ed Tomme, chief of the lab's concept development branch at Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado.
The lab has firm plans to conduct some basic early demonstrations in near-space, and lab officials have been briefing senior service officials at the Pentagon, including Gen. John Jumper, Air Force chief of staff; James Roche, Air Force secretary; and Peter Teets, the Air Force undersecretary in hopes of securing funding for more complicated experiments in the near future, Tomme said in a Sept. 20 telephone interview. So called "near-space" asserts flying at an altitude of about 30 kilometers above the Earth's surface could perform a variety of tactical missions including battlefield intelligence gathering and communications at a lower cost than satellites, Tomme said.
Such vehicles could help meet a commander's needs for capabilities that could be launched quickly during battle, Tomme said. The military today uses unmanned aircraft for this purpose. In some cases these airborne systems can be more useful than satellites in low Earth orbits because the airborne systems can hover over areas of interest for hours at a time instead of only being available briefly during orbital passes.
Near-space systems would offer the same quick deployment capability of an unmanned aerial vehicle, but would have the added advantage of using solar-polar to enable them to hover over areas of interest for days at a time without refueling, Tomme said.
Near-space systems would also be relatively safe from enemy fire because of their altitude, Tomme said. The construction of these vehicles makes them difficult to pick up with radar and infrared sensors, and also enables them to absorb heavy damage before they can be brought down, he said.
The expense of near-space systems can be kept lower than satellites for reasons that go beyond the fact that they do not require the use of a space launch vehicle, which even in the Air Force's most hopeful estimates for new quick-launch expendable rockets would still cost several million dollars, Tomme said.
The lower altitude of near-space does not require sensors or communications payloads to be as powerful as those on satellites, and radiation hardening and space-qualified parts are not necessary, Tomme said. The near-space vehicles, many of which are envisioned as being reusable, also do not need the redundant systems used for satellites that cannot be repaired once launched and must be kept on orbit for years at a time, he said.
However, there are some drawbacks to near-space vehicles, and lab officials are promoting them as complementing satellites rather than replacing them, Tomme said.
One drawback is that near-space vehicles would have to deal with restrictions that come with flying over other countries to get into position. Satellites are exempt from those restrictions, he said.
"If you need a deep look, satellites can guarantee that they can do it," Tomme said. "I can't make that guarantee with near-space systems."
Commanders may choose to use small satellites that can be launched quickly in the early phases of an operation, and then use near-space vehicles once air superiority is established, said Robert Dickman, deputy for military space to the under secretary of the Air Force.
Near-space systems would "certainly complement, not replace" the projected use of small satellites, Dickman said during a recent interview at the Pentagon.
The military could begin using less sophisticated versions of the near-space vehicles almost immediately, Tomme said. The lab expects to conduct a demonstration of one of these less-sophisticated, free-floating vehicles in the next several months, he said.
That demonstration, called CombatSkySat, will feature a payload that extends the range of Army tactical radios from about 10 kilometers to about 480 kilometers, Tomme said.
Balloons with non-recoverable payloads could likely be fielded and deployed to Afghanistan today for less than $1,000 each, not including payload costs, Tomme said.
The lab plans to conduct a follow-on demonstration in the spring that features a glider that was originally designed for the Mars landers, Tomme said.
The second demonstration will feature a payload that detects and locates muzzle flashes and missile launches, even through clouds, according to briefing charts that Tomme has used to explain the concept to Air Force leaders.
An operational system similar to that vehicle would cost about $300,000, not including payload costs, according to the charts.
The National Reconnaissance Office and Central Intelligence Agency are funding studies of another near-space vehicle concept with New Mexico State University. That vehicle would have the ability to maneuver on its own, Tomme said.
While the university successfully flew a small-scale version of the vehicle inside a basketball arena in mid-September, about $10 million is needed to carry out a full-scale demonstration within the next several years, Tomme said.
The Navy also is working on a maneuverable near-space vehicle that could be kept over an area of interest for up to a week, Tomme said. In the next month or so, the Navy plans to demonstrate the vehicle's ability to hover for a full day by placing it at an altitude of about 3 kilometers above the Pentagon for at least 24 hours, he said. Conducting that demonstration could draw attention to the effort that may help it secure funding, he said.
http://www.isrjournal.com/story.php?F=453849
Air Force Space Command's Space Battlelab plans to conduct a variety of experiments in this area over the next several years, said Lt. Col. Ed Tomme, chief of the lab's concept development branch at Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado.
The lab has firm plans to conduct some basic early demonstrations in near-space, and lab officials have been briefing senior service officials at the Pentagon, including Gen. John Jumper, Air Force chief of staff; James Roche, Air Force secretary; and Peter Teets, the Air Force undersecretary in hopes of securing funding for more complicated experiments in the near future, Tomme said in a Sept. 20 telephone interview. So called "near-space" asserts flying at an altitude of about 30 kilometers above the Earth's surface could perform a variety of tactical missions including battlefield intelligence gathering and communications at a lower cost than satellites, Tomme said.
Such vehicles could help meet a commander's needs for capabilities that could be launched quickly during battle, Tomme said. The military today uses unmanned aircraft for this purpose. In some cases these airborne systems can be more useful than satellites in low Earth orbits because the airborne systems can hover over areas of interest for hours at a time instead of only being available briefly during orbital passes.
Near-space systems would offer the same quick deployment capability of an unmanned aerial vehicle, but would have the added advantage of using solar-polar to enable them to hover over areas of interest for days at a time without refueling, Tomme said.
Near-space systems would also be relatively safe from enemy fire because of their altitude, Tomme said. The construction of these vehicles makes them difficult to pick up with radar and infrared sensors, and also enables them to absorb heavy damage before they can be brought down, he said.
The expense of near-space systems can be kept lower than satellites for reasons that go beyond the fact that they do not require the use of a space launch vehicle, which even in the Air Force's most hopeful estimates for new quick-launch expendable rockets would still cost several million dollars, Tomme said.
The lower altitude of near-space does not require sensors or communications payloads to be as powerful as those on satellites, and radiation hardening and space-qualified parts are not necessary, Tomme said. The near-space vehicles, many of which are envisioned as being reusable, also do not need the redundant systems used for satellites that cannot be repaired once launched and must be kept on orbit for years at a time, he said.
However, there are some drawbacks to near-space vehicles, and lab officials are promoting them as complementing satellites rather than replacing them, Tomme said.
One drawback is that near-space vehicles would have to deal with restrictions that come with flying over other countries to get into position. Satellites are exempt from those restrictions, he said.
"If you need a deep look, satellites can guarantee that they can do it," Tomme said. "I can't make that guarantee with near-space systems."
Commanders may choose to use small satellites that can be launched quickly in the early phases of an operation, and then use near-space vehicles once air superiority is established, said Robert Dickman, deputy for military space to the under secretary of the Air Force.
Near-space systems would "certainly complement, not replace" the projected use of small satellites, Dickman said during a recent interview at the Pentagon.
The military could begin using less sophisticated versions of the near-space vehicles almost immediately, Tomme said. The lab expects to conduct a demonstration of one of these less-sophisticated, free-floating vehicles in the next several months, he said.
That demonstration, called CombatSkySat, will feature a payload that extends the range of Army tactical radios from about 10 kilometers to about 480 kilometers, Tomme said.
Balloons with non-recoverable payloads could likely be fielded and deployed to Afghanistan today for less than $1,000 each, not including payload costs, Tomme said.
The lab plans to conduct a follow-on demonstration in the spring that features a glider that was originally designed for the Mars landers, Tomme said.
The second demonstration will feature a payload that detects and locates muzzle flashes and missile launches, even through clouds, according to briefing charts that Tomme has used to explain the concept to Air Force leaders.
An operational system similar to that vehicle would cost about $300,000, not including payload costs, according to the charts.
The National Reconnaissance Office and Central Intelligence Agency are funding studies of another near-space vehicle concept with New Mexico State University. That vehicle would have the ability to maneuver on its own, Tomme said.
While the university successfully flew a small-scale version of the vehicle inside a basketball arena in mid-September, about $10 million is needed to carry out a full-scale demonstration within the next several years, Tomme said.
The Navy also is working on a maneuverable near-space vehicle that could be kept over an area of interest for up to a week, Tomme said. In the next month or so, the Navy plans to demonstrate the vehicle's ability to hover for a full day by placing it at an altitude of about 3 kilometers above the Pentagon for at least 24 hours, he said. Conducting that demonstration could draw attention to the effort that may help it secure funding, he said.
http://www.isrjournal.com/story.php?F=453849