US Air Force,
Washington: “ROVER” is an unimpressive piece of equipment. But one Air Force officer swears it's the link to the Air Force's future in communications — where the Xbox generation meets real-time battle.
“You can't get any simpler than this — a laptop with a bunch of antennas and cables,” said Lt. Col. Gregory E. Harbin, of the 609th Combat Operations Squadron at Shaw Air Force Base, S.C. “Yet, the ROVER is bringing a phenomenal capability to our people on the ground.”
ROVER — the Remotely Operated Video Enhanced Receiver — is a system that has proven vital in both combat and humanitarian missions.
Cameras mounted on aircraft collect images and send them as full-motion streaming video to the systems carried by ground forces. The real-time imagery provides joint terminal attack controllers an aerial view of what is happening in an area before and after they call in close air support.
Pilots in the sky and JTACs on the ground see the same images — and even better, “the pilots can look exactly where we need them to look,” said Staff Sgt. Justin Cry, a Shaw JTAC who's used the system in both Iraq and New Orleans.
“I can circle an area on my screen, drawing arrows for emphasis, and what I'm drawing appears on (the pilots') screens as well,” he said.
It's simple technology that's existed for years. It took young Airmen on the ground asking a lot of questions to bring it to the field.
“It's the Xbox generation,” Colonel Harbin said. “When I took the earlier systems into the field, not only did these young men learn how to use them quickly, but they started making lists of improvements.” The colonel said they started “asking questions like,
