Session TE31: UAVs vs. Satellites
February 20, 9:00 - 9:45
Unmanned Airborne Systems: Opportunistic Environment for Border Control ... with Risk
Abstract:
Unmanned Airborne Systems (UASs) are currently being evaluated for procurement and use in Border Control and Homeland Security. These evaluations are an opportunistic exploitation of advances in UASs made possible by decades of investments, and billions of dollars, by the Department of Defense. The opportunistic environment for UASs introduction and use for Border Control comes with an obscure yet significant risk: the risk is an ad hoc procurement and insertion of UASs into service where there is no integrated plan for mission system capability, command and control, integration of manned and unmanned capabilities, asset and mission management, and budget process.
The February 2004 Defense Science Board Study titled "Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and Uninhabited Combat Aerial Vehicles" concluded, "There is no longer any question of the technical viability and operational utility of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). The benefits and promise offered by UAVs in surveillance, targeting and attack have captured the attention of senior military and civilian officials in the Department of Defense, members of congress, and the public alike". Military planners point to fewer investments in new weaponry and more spending on UASs, along with networked communications to assure command and control required to enable real-time and
multi-organizational UASs mission capability. Concurrently a shift has occurred away from Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs), a shift from platform-centric to mission-centric capability. Future UASs capabilities and success for Border Control will rest upon the firm foundation of past and future DOD UASs investments; but, will require coordination of Border Control stakeholders who must weigh the opportunity for enhanced surveillance using highly capable mission-centric Unmanned Aerial Systems against the risk of ad hoc procurement and use of platform-centric Unmanned Aerial Vehicles , resulting potentially in unrealized capability.
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Grant A. Begley is director of Architecture and Systems Integration - Integrated Airborne Systems for Raytheon's Space and Airborne Systems business. In this role, Mr. Begley has responsibility for creating and leading growth initiatives in domestic and international manned and unmanned airborne systems markets, with emphasis in the Homeland Security and Border Surveillance areas.
