Drones, planes need latest weapons and sensors, says special ops official

TAMPA, Fla. — More options and fewer strain on humans are key to modernizing fixed-wing systems for U.S. Special Operations Command, in response to this system executive officer accountable for the trouble.

Those themes extend to each piloted and uncrewed airframes, similar to MC-130J Commando II and AC-130J Ghostrider aircraft in addition to MQ-1C Gray Eagle drones, Air Force Col. Ken Kuebler told an audience Tuesday on the SOF Week conference in Florida.

Moreover, Kuebler noted, secure data transfer and communications are critical in these platforms. “Cybersecurity must be burnt in from the start, and it goes across all the pieces we’re doing,” he said.

By way of drones, Kuebler said he’s focused on reducing the necessity for human support. Despite the “unmanned” aspect of drone technology, it’s a “manpower-intensive platform,” he explained. For instance, a single MQ-9 requires as much as 200 personnel when accounting for all support from maintenance to flying.

Finding technology to assist with that’s paramount, he said.

And given the gunships which have served the special operations community for many years are still in demand, they’ve got their very own challenges. Special Operations Command saw the last AC-130W retire in 2022, and the organization is almost done upgrading older AC-130Js across the 30 currently within the fleet, he said.

The following steps include making the “gunship the premier platform for U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command,” Kuebler said, which requires finding ways to make the aircraft runway-independent and amphibious.

“It’s a extremely hard engineering problem,” he added.

The command is currently studying the impact of operating at sea on maintenance and support equipment, including the effect of water on airframes and how one can incorporate floating support for aircraft.

Kuebler anticipates a float capability demonstration will happen inside the subsequent two to a few years.

And just like the drone family, the colonel wants more distant gunship autonomy within the platform, meaning automated systems to deal with extraneous tasks and watch the skies so crew members can concentrate on more essential mission requirements.

Kuebler’s office awarded a contract for the Armed Overwatch program in August 2022, Defense News previously reported, with the organization choosing L3Harris Technologies and Air Tractor because the winners for the plane portion, once called the AT-802U Sky Warden but later renamed the OA-1K.

That contract could produce as many as 75 Sky Warden single-engine turboprop planes in a deal value as much as $3 billion. This system adds a strike capability and provides the plane intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets because it replaces the legacy U-28A Draco and MC-12W Liberty aircraft, Defense News reported.

For the strike portion, the command saw BAE Systems’ Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System undergo testing.

The OA-1K’s armament will include 2.75-inch laser-guided rockets as a part of the precision kill weapon system, AGM-114 missiles and the GBU-12 Paveway bomb, in response to slides Kuebler showed.

The turboprop plane’s ISR assets will include full-motion video and Link 16 communications, amongst other features.

The bottom line is for the plane to have a modular design; Kuebler desires to have the power to swap out latest tech in the identical size package for quite a lot of missions, from close air support to sensing and electronic warfare.

At once, Special Operations Command has 16 on contract and expects delivery of the primary planes in October, he said. (Those won’t enter the sector at that time, but quite begin initial operational capability testing.)

That combination compresses those features right into a smaller aircraft that may fly low and support small teams in additional austere and distant locations similar to Africa, which lacks the robust logistical footprint on which special operators depended during recent wars in U.S. Central Command’s area of responsibility.

Looking over the modernization horizon, Special Operations Command has teamed with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency on the X-Plane program, which goals to offer fixed-wing platforms a vertical-takeoff-and-landing capability and the power to exceed 400 knots (460 mph).