bobdina
06-07-2009, 01:46 PM
Spy planes due in Afghanistan are late
By Michael Hoffman - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Jun 6, 2009 11:03:52 EDT
The Air Force’s delay in deploying MC-12W spy planes to Afghanistan could hamper a summer offensive planned against the Taliban, a spokesman for Defense Secretary Robert Gates said.
The first MC-12W arrived in theater June 1, but 23 others scheduled to deploy later this year have fallen as much as four months behind schedule.
“It’s a real concern. ... There will be a lag between when these thousands of additional forces hit the ground [in Afghanistan] and when additional [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] capabilities will be available to them,” Gates’ spokesman Geoff Morrell said. “Whatever the reason is for the delay, the secretary wants to see these aircraft in theater as soon as possible and put to work because it is a matter of life and death for these guys.”
MC-12Ws, twin-propeller Hawker Beechcraft King Air 350 airplanes outfitted with high-tech ISR sensors, are designed to track terrorist leaders and find roadside bombs. Their deployment for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq was a top priority of an ISR task force stood up by Gates in 2008 to get more ISR assets to troops in war zones.
Morrell said Gates is frustrated the spy planes haven’t arrived on time.
“It’s not about pointing a finger at the Air Force. ... [Gates] doesn’t care where it’s stuck. He just wants to get it unstuck,” Morrell said.
The ISR task force was born out of Gates’ frustration that the Air Force was not rushing to get enough unmanned aircraft to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Last July, the ISR task force launched Project Liberty, a $461 million program to deploy 37 MC-12Ws and about 1,000 airmen by 2010 to supplement the MQ-1 Predators and MQ-9 Reapers already in theater. Unlike the Reaper and Predators, the MC-12Ws will not carry weapons.
Lt. Gen. Craig Koziol, director of the Defense Department’s ISR Task Force, said he hopes to have six MC-12Ws deployed by August. Original plans called for 13.
“We have found the problem and we are working hard to push those dates to the left,” Koziol said.
MC-12W prime contractor L-3 Communications has opened three production lines to speed up delivery, Koziol said. L-3 Communications teams also have been working 24 hours a day, seven days a week from the beginning to speed up delivery, said Bob Spivey, L-3’s vice president of special programs.
Despite the delays, many Air Force leaders said they consider Project Liberty a success after fielding the first MC-12W just six months and 27 days after awarding the contract.
“We started from essentially zero and fielded an entire capability,” said Robert Marlin, technical adviser for Air Force ISR capabilities. “We not only fielded an aircraft but also trained the operators and provided the processing, exploitation and dissemination along with it. That’s a huge challenge.”
Four airmen operate the MC-12W — two pilots, one sensor operator and one signals intelligence specialist. The sensor operator operates the full-motion video camera, and the SIGINT specialist operates “Pennant Race,” an advanced version of the SIGINT package found on Predators and Reapers, Marlin said.
The pilots and enlisted airmen are trained at Key Field in Meridian, Miss., where the Air National Guard’s 186th Air Refueling Wing is home to the MC-12W schoolhouse. Six crews have been trained so far with the first three already deployed with the first MC-12W. Fifteen crews totaling 60 operators should be trained by the end of the summer, Marlin said.
Delays to the MC-12Ws were caused in part by the nontraditional development of the aircraft. The Air Force bought used models for the first seven MC-12Ws, while models eight through 31 — with an extended range — will be built by Hawker Beechcraft specifically for the Air Force. The first seven models will be able to fly three- to four-hour missions while the extended range MC-12Ws will fly five- to six-hour missions.
Development of the first seven aircraft was slower than expected because L-3 had to remove specialized features of the formerly private planes, such as a cooling system installed to transport wine, Spivey said.
“Each one had a different story to tell,” he said.
One was owned by a doctor who flew back and forth between his home in Texas and Mexico City. A wine connoisseur, the doctor had a special cooling system installed to transport his wine. All that had to be ripped out and specially rewired to accommodate the sensor packages, Spivey said.
Later models were delayed by Air Force leaders trying to add capabilities instead of remaining focused on getting the aircraft deployed, Koziol said.
“We underestimated the time it would take for the integration of platforms eight through 31,” he said.
By Michael Hoffman - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Jun 6, 2009 11:03:52 EDT
The Air Force’s delay in deploying MC-12W spy planes to Afghanistan could hamper a summer offensive planned against the Taliban, a spokesman for Defense Secretary Robert Gates said.
The first MC-12W arrived in theater June 1, but 23 others scheduled to deploy later this year have fallen as much as four months behind schedule.
“It’s a real concern. ... There will be a lag between when these thousands of additional forces hit the ground [in Afghanistan] and when additional [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] capabilities will be available to them,” Gates’ spokesman Geoff Morrell said. “Whatever the reason is for the delay, the secretary wants to see these aircraft in theater as soon as possible and put to work because it is a matter of life and death for these guys.”
MC-12Ws, twin-propeller Hawker Beechcraft King Air 350 airplanes outfitted with high-tech ISR sensors, are designed to track terrorist leaders and find roadside bombs. Their deployment for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq was a top priority of an ISR task force stood up by Gates in 2008 to get more ISR assets to troops in war zones.
Morrell said Gates is frustrated the spy planes haven’t arrived on time.
“It’s not about pointing a finger at the Air Force. ... [Gates] doesn’t care where it’s stuck. He just wants to get it unstuck,” Morrell said.
The ISR task force was born out of Gates’ frustration that the Air Force was not rushing to get enough unmanned aircraft to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Last July, the ISR task force launched Project Liberty, a $461 million program to deploy 37 MC-12Ws and about 1,000 airmen by 2010 to supplement the MQ-1 Predators and MQ-9 Reapers already in theater. Unlike the Reaper and Predators, the MC-12Ws will not carry weapons.
Lt. Gen. Craig Koziol, director of the Defense Department’s ISR Task Force, said he hopes to have six MC-12Ws deployed by August. Original plans called for 13.
“We have found the problem and we are working hard to push those dates to the left,” Koziol said.
MC-12W prime contractor L-3 Communications has opened three production lines to speed up delivery, Koziol said. L-3 Communications teams also have been working 24 hours a day, seven days a week from the beginning to speed up delivery, said Bob Spivey, L-3’s vice president of special programs.
Despite the delays, many Air Force leaders said they consider Project Liberty a success after fielding the first MC-12W just six months and 27 days after awarding the contract.
“We started from essentially zero and fielded an entire capability,” said Robert Marlin, technical adviser for Air Force ISR capabilities. “We not only fielded an aircraft but also trained the operators and provided the processing, exploitation and dissemination along with it. That’s a huge challenge.”
Four airmen operate the MC-12W — two pilots, one sensor operator and one signals intelligence specialist. The sensor operator operates the full-motion video camera, and the SIGINT specialist operates “Pennant Race,” an advanced version of the SIGINT package found on Predators and Reapers, Marlin said.
The pilots and enlisted airmen are trained at Key Field in Meridian, Miss., where the Air National Guard’s 186th Air Refueling Wing is home to the MC-12W schoolhouse. Six crews have been trained so far with the first three already deployed with the first MC-12W. Fifteen crews totaling 60 operators should be trained by the end of the summer, Marlin said.
Delays to the MC-12Ws were caused in part by the nontraditional development of the aircraft. The Air Force bought used models for the first seven MC-12Ws, while models eight through 31 — with an extended range — will be built by Hawker Beechcraft specifically for the Air Force. The first seven models will be able to fly three- to four-hour missions while the extended range MC-12Ws will fly five- to six-hour missions.
Development of the first seven aircraft was slower than expected because L-3 had to remove specialized features of the formerly private planes, such as a cooling system installed to transport wine, Spivey said.
“Each one had a different story to tell,” he said.
One was owned by a doctor who flew back and forth between his home in Texas and Mexico City. A wine connoisseur, the doctor had a special cooling system installed to transport his wine. All that had to be ripped out and specially rewired to accommodate the sensor packages, Spivey said.
Later models were delayed by Air Force leaders trying to add capabilities instead of remaining focused on getting the aircraft deployed, Koziol said.
“We underestimated the time it would take for the integration of platforms eight through 31,” he said.