In support of their task force actions in Iraq, the unit began to deploy one of the latest additions to the warfighter’s tool kit: the Raven unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). During subsequent operations, unit members credited the Raven with enhancing situational awareness through the conduct of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance of danger zones without the need to commit soldiers on the ground.

Once the domain of brigade commanders and above, the hand-launched Raven puts UAV capabilities into the hands of platoon leaders and company commanders.

"I now have something as a company commander to give me three-dimensional situational awareness," observes Col. John Burke, U.S. Army project manager, UAV Systems. "I never had that as an asset of my own before."

According to Burke, the Army’s recent fielding of Raven is the result of an advanced concept technology demonstration (ACTD) that was conducted by the U.S. Army, U.S. Special Operations Command and the Natick Lab during 2002.

"We briefed Raven to the [then] Vice Chief of Staff, Gen. John M. Keane, in January of 2003," he said. "And he said, ‘I don’t want to wait 20 years for a platoon UAV.’ We grabbed onto that, put together a proposal, and Col. Bruce Jette from the Rapid Equipping Force helped us sponsor this into the Pentagon, where we got some funding to buy five systems."

Burke added, "We accelerated this ACTD by two to three years. We simply accelerated a technology demonstration that was already in the works for about two full years, and then we immediately trained a small cadre of folks in the 10th Mountain Division and put it into Afghanistan. One of the things I point out with great pride as an acquisition officer is that when Gen. Keane said, ‘I don’t want it to take 20 years,’ we delivered the first Raven in-theater 20 weeks after contract award."
Delivery of the first five systems was followed by sequential approval for 10 additional systems, followed by 170 more, bringing total Raven procurement to date to 185 systems.

Each of the Raven systems includes three airplanes, a ground control station and a remote video terminal. The prime contractor is Aervironment Inc.

With a wingspan of 4.5 feet and a weight of 3.8 pounds, the hand-launched Raven airplane provides aerial observation at line-of-sight ranges of 10 to 15 kilometers at altitudes up to 1,000 feet. (Most missions are flown at 100 to 300 feet.) The system can be flown actively or through set way points with options of either a daylight or infrared camera allowing both day and night operations. Design features include the use of the military standard Py Code GPS and a rechargeable battery option.
"We had looked at disposable batteries but the commander didn’t want to haul a Humvee-worth of disposable batteries around," Burke observed.

Although the system can use disposable batteries, the majority of missions are flown with a lithium ion battery pack that can be recharged through a variety of sources, including the 28 volt DC outlet on a Humvee. Depending on the battery used, mission time can range from 60 to 90 minutes.

Col. Burke said that two recent additions to the Raven system include a Panasonic Toughbook computer to go with the ground control station as well as a Sony Handycam video camera. The computer uses FalconView joint mapping software to provide the overlay of the video image on top of a five-color map display. The video camera allows the recording of Raven imagery for additional analysis or exploitation.

As of this writing, the Army has just taken delivery of its 100th Raven system and completed Raven operator training for its 400th soldier.

"It’s all done in theater," Burke explained. "The only thing we do in the States is procure the equipment. We ship it to a training base in Kuwait ... and the soldiers are trained right there at the training base in Kuwait with about a two week program of instruction."

He added, "We’ve trained 44 different MOSs [military occupational specialties], from Apache pilots to cooks. … It’s a very command-oriented system. We give them real proficiency in how to operate the system but what we find is that the commanders are going to use that system to meet whatever mission they have.

"If a commander is in urban operations, he’s going to use it for urban ops. If a commander is out at a firebase, he’s going to use it for firebase security. He’s going to use that system to plug a gap that he needs some kind of surveillance over. What we find is that every commander will use it differently because they have different missions, different terrain, different populations and different competencies.

"The point is that the commander is going to use it to the limits of his creativity in the context of his environment and his mission," he added.

"Most of the units fly two or three missions a day with these," Burke acknowledged. "Trying to keep up with them is ... exciting, because soldiers will use this system as much as they possibly can."

In recent operations, he observed newly trained Raven crews recover the aircraft, perform an equipment check and relaunch the aircraft within seven minutes. Made of a Kevlar composite material, the aircraft is designed for up to 200 tactical landings.
Burke stressed the critical role that doctrine, organization, training, materiel, leadership, personnel and facilities considerations have played in Raven program development.

"Commanders hate it when you do ‘drive-by fielding,’ basically throwing a system out of a pickup truck and saying, ‘Look at my new widget.’ We really hammered home the logistics support, the training and the documentation. We’re trying to see the system through the eyes of the commander," he said.

"We have had some Ravens shot down," Burke admitted. "Of course, the advantage there is that when they’re shooting at the Raven they’re not shooting at you."

Additional Raven casualties have resulted from lost communications links or other technical considerations. Initially, groups of soldiers went out in an effort to find the aircraft. The recent addition of a Falcon Tracker low power radio frequency antenna, however, allows the use of direction finders to facilitate recovery operations.

"Another thing we put on there is a bilingual label in Arabic and English that says, ‘If found, return to the nearest coalition forces base for a reward,’ We’ve had several turned in that way," Burke added. "And you’d have a hard time doing those kinds of little improvements if you didn’t have such a nice tight cycle between your acquisition and feedback loops."

In terms of future program plans, Burke observed, "We’re working on the most effective way to support the Operation Iraqi Freedom rotations."

Specific efforts include the potential integration of the Raven ground control station into the Army’s Tactical Internet.
"We’re working on how to communicate over FBCB2 [Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below] and SINCGARS [single channel ground and airborne radio system] so that we can send screen captures," he said. "I think that’s just a natural evolution. I can talk to you on the phone all day long but what I’d really like is for you to send me a picture of the tactical situation."

"I really believe that the infusion of the small UAV into the Army is every bit as transformational as night vision goggles were," Burke concluded. "We’re giving those tactical commanders something just as significant as night vision goggles, because we’re opening up a whole new dimension of combat operations."