|
|
Background
Comparison — US Army Aviation — Task Force ODIN |
|
Additional brigades will be sent into Afghanistan. A Task Force ODIN is being set up with the ISR assets
to help the commanders on the ground to protect the Ring Road [ from Kabul to Kandahar to Herat ].
Edited excerpts from a DoD Briefing archived on
Global Security.
|
|
Huron 'Aerial Reconnaissance Multi-Sensor' Carriers
The manned sensor 'platform' is a modified Beech C-12R Huron [1] light transport. Under the
Horned Owl project, these aircraft were fitted with belly pods carrying camera turrets and synthetic
aperture radar. This modified C-12R airframe is known as ARMS – the Aerial Reconnaissance Multi-Sensor platform.
As ARMS, the C-12R is not to be confused with the RC-12 Guardrail – another
specialist Huron (in this case, antenna-festooned SIGINT aircraft).
|
|
|
From a Modest Dynasty – C-12R Origins
The C-12 family is used by the US military as trainers and utility aircraft. All are based on Beech
King Air models.[2] The C-12R is an off-the-shelf King Air B200 and, like its
civilian counterpart, seat eight passengers. For overseas service, the C-12 is fitted with AAR-47 Missile
Warning Systems (left, on nose) and ALE-47 dispensers [3] to launch anti-radar chaff and
infrared decoy flares.
|
|
|
Warrior – Evolving Gnat Genera from General Atomics
The UAV component of TF ODIN is the 'Warrior Alpha', an development of the earlier I-GNAT with features of the larger Predator A (including Rotax 914 piston engine and the bulbous dome on the upper nose for
satellite uplinks). Another Predator feature are optional mountings for the Hellfire
missile. In effect, General Atomics has re-evolved Predator A in a cheaper, less complex
I-GNAT package.
|
|
|
Quite rightly, the USAF sees the economical 'Warrior Alpha' as a threat to its scaled-up
Predator B program. But that misses the point about what TF ODIN has accomplished. The ARMS
C-12 'platform' carries the same light- weight sensors as the UAV. The reliability (and predictability)
of a manned system is employed to full benefit except where the added stealth of a UAV is needed. Under TF ODIN,
the US Army has at its disposal two systems – one with humans intimately involved, another to go directly in
harm's way.
|
|
|
[1] The C-12s are referred to as both Beech and Beechcraft products. Both are correct. The original Huron
models were built by the Beech Aircraft Company (Beechcraft was a marketing name). In 1979, Beech was taken over by
Raytheon Corporation. In March 2007, Raytheon sold its Beechcraft Division to Onex and Goldman Sachs which
rebranded the firm once again. It is now known as Hawker Beechcraft Inc.
[2] There have been several attempts to eclipse the Hurons. Surveillance models were to have been replaced
by ACS (Airborne Common Sensor) a failed joint project with the US Navy (see: Jim Hasik's The Crash of
the ACS). In another joint project, the 8-seat Huron is to be replaced by the 68-seat C-27J under
the Joint Cargo Aircraft program. Conflicting USAF requirements skewed this contest toward a larger aircraft.
It is hard to see how this accommodates US Army utility transport needs let alone providing a replacement for
specialist C-12Rs.
[3] Both AN/ALE-47 and AN/AAR-47 defensive aid systems are also in Canadian Forces service (on CC-130, CF-18,
CH-124, and others).
|
|
Video Transceiver). The goal is to detect and attack any insurgents laying IEDs. When detected,
IED teams are usually engaged by AH-64 Apache helicopters. Task Force ODIN, first
deployed to Iraq in October 2006.