28 April 1998
"Sabre One, this is the CAOC, we have an armored column in yourarea. We're downloading video feed of location." "Roger CAOC. We have it."The F-15E Strike Eagle turns and steers to the coordinates provided --the pilot uses pictures being provided to the cockpit to find the targets. Theranks run, but they can't hide from the overhead Predator reconnaissanceaircraft, which feeds pictures to the F-15 via the Combined Air OperationsCenter. Using these pictures, the crew find the tanks within minutes and destroythem using laser guided bombs.Direct TV to the cockpit? It may not be like turning on the game athome, but it's not science fiction any more. Today, due to a joint effortbetween the Air Force, Navy and the National Reconnaissance Office, targetingfootage is provided directly to the cockpits of Air Force F-15Es and NavyF/A-18s operating in Bosnia. The Rapid Targeting Capability has been in Bosnia since Sept. 1996. Thekey players in developing the system were the NRO, the Air Force'sReconnaissance Program office at Wright Patterson AFB, Ohio and the Naval AirWarfare Center at China Lake. The system is primarily designed for aircraftgoing after mobile targets that aircrews operating on alert haven't had theopportunity to preplan.The Rapid Targeting Capability can take video or images from platformslike the unmanned Predator, the U-2 or the Joint Stars and transpose it over anNRO satellite photo and then match the two in realtime to get precise targetcoordinates. The satellite photo provides a broad area context for the smallersnapshot from the tactical reconnaissance aircraft and provides more precisecoordinates than can be provided from the tactical feed alone."We provide television to the cockpit to put bombs on target,"said Maj. Alan Tucker, one of the NRO's engineers who helped develop the system. The process may start with a ten by ten nautical mile pictures of thetarget fed to the cockpit, improved by five by five, then to one by one andfinally down to a view that provides the same heading as the approachingaircraft. These different pictures give the pilot a perspective he wouldn't getfrom a tactical aircraft alone and aids him in finding the target. Before this system was in place an aircraft might be vectored to itstarget by a forward air controller - a process that often required the aircraftto orbit over a target area for as much as 15 minutes. "This doesn't take any more than five minutes over the targetarea," said Major Stephen Schwartz, an F-15E pilot with the 334th FighterSquadron at Seymour-Johnson AFB, N.C. Schwartz used the system while deployed toBosnia with the 49th Fighter Squadron out of RAF Lakenheath. "It's saferfor us because we don't have to orbit nearly as long and it's safer for the FACbecause he doesn't have to be there at all." Ideally the pilot may never have to overfly the target area at all.During testing at Nellis AFB, Nev, Aircrews used the system to go straight totargets and launch while still 4-6 miles away, according to Lt. Col. BobHalverson, the operations officer for the 4th Training Squadron atSeymour-Jouhnson, who helped test the Rapid Targeting Capability at Nellis in1993.It's also well beyond the technology used during the SCUD hunts ofDesert Storm."During Desert Storm we didn't have technology like this. We werejust bombing coordinates in the desert," said Capt. Gerry Downey, who wasflying in F-111Es at the time. "With this system, we could take off andreceive imagery from JSTARS that would show us where they think the target is,"said Downey, who is a weapons systems officer with the 334th FS and, likeSchwartz, was in Bosnia with the 494th FS.The system is an example of how the National Reconnaissance Office,which designs, builds and operates the nation's spy satellites, is providing thewarfighter with information he didn't have in the past. In addition to providingthe satellite photos, the NRO developed the software that enables the tacticalpictures to be overlayed onto them."We have made tremendous strides in getting the data out to theusers," said NRO's Tucker. "The data is not only getting to them, it'sfar more useful to them because of our understanding and ability to exploit it.""It's a hundred times better than talking to a FAC," saidDowney. "You know what they say - a picture is worth a thousand words."
