[iwar] [fc:Raytheon.Pitches.Eavesdropping.Tech.For.Global.Hawk]

From: Fred Cohen (fc@all.net)
Date: 2001-12-11 13:52:32
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Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2001 13:52:32 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [iwar] [fc:Raytheon.Pitches.Eavesdropping.Tech.For.Global.Hawk]
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Defense Week
December 10, 2001
Raytheon Pitches Eavesdropping Tech For Global Hawk 
By Ron Laurenzo 
The Global Hawk unmanned aircraft, which debuted in combat in recent weeks,
providing pictures and radar images of Afghanistan, could become an
eavesdropping aircraft within a year. 
The Air Force has planned to eventually add a "signals intelligence package"
to the RQ-4A Global Hawk, but Raytheon recently offered to speed things up.
Raytheon has offered the Air Force a scaled-down version of the "SIGINT"
package it makes for the U-2 spy plane for use on Global Hawk. 
Global Hawk, which flies at 65,000 feet, is one of the highest-profile
systems employed in Afghanistan. The possible addition of eavesdropping
equipment to the new aircraft has not previously been reported. 
The package could be provided as quickly as six months, Raytheon says. In
the near-term, though, a single Global Hawk would only be able to perform
the SIGINT mission. It wouldn't be able to perform both SIGINT and other
missions simultaneously until later in the aircraft's development, Raytheon
says. 
The system would use the same ground stations currently used to process
SIGINT data from the U-2, and the airborne equipment for the Global Hawk
would be similar to what the Air Force is already using on the manned
aircraft, a Raytheon executive said. 
"A U-2 equivalent SIGINT system on Global Hawk will permit the Air Force
significantly more flexibility in employing Global Hawk to perform high-risk
missions," said John Nannen, director of business development for Raytheon
Strategic Systems, in an interview. 
"The benefit to Air Force is commonality between the U-2 and Global Hawk
SIGINT systems so the existing U-2 maintenance and logistics infrastructure
can be used, and the existing ground stations can be used without
modification," Nannen said. 
Electromagnetic vacuum cleaner 
The Air Force did not comment before press time Friday. 
Signals Intelligence, also known as electronic surveillance, works like an
electromagnetic vacuum cleaner, sucking up radio waves from all and sundry
sources, from radio broadcasts to cell and satellite phone signals. Large
SIGINT platforms such as the RC-135 Rivet Joint, a converted Boeing 707
airliner, allow for processing on board the aircraft, where technicians can
separate less useful information, such as Arabic pop music, from, say,
communications between terrorists. 
A U-2 beams down its collected data to a ground station, where it is
processed and passed on to commanders and decision-makers. 
The Global Hawk is a developmental aircraft intended to replace the U-2,
currently the backbone of the Air Force's airborne surveillance systems. The
Air Force has interrupted Global Hawk's development plan for deployment to
Afghanistan, where the high-altitude aircraft is using its cameras and radar
scanners to provide intelligence on Taliban and al Qaeda activities. 
Raytheon's system is basically the same as the one it currently builds for
the U-2, scaled to meet the weight, power, and space available on the Global
Hawk, Nannen said. 
The difference is that Global Hawk, at least in its current form, would not
have the capacity to simultaneously perform the same number of SIGINT
functions as the U-2, which produces more electrical power and carries twice
the payload of Global Hawk. 
SIGINT mission 
If the Air Force puts the SIGINT package on one of four current Global Hawk
aircraft, which only entered full-scale development in March, power and
payload restrictions would prevent it from carrying other sensors. 
"In this case the UAV would be `missionized' for SIGINT and could carry a
full U-2 System," Nannen said. 
But the Air Force is pushing Global Hawk's development, trying to field a
more capable Block 10 model-the current version is Block Five-in 2004, five
years sooner than previously planned. Those models would be able to haul the
U-2-equivalent SIGINT package in addition to its usual payload of
electro-optical and infrared cameras and synthetic aperture radar. 
"A future system could have even more capability by refreshing the
processing technology of the current U-2 System," Nannen said. 
Tailoring hardware 
Nannen said Raytheon could provide the SIGINT packages in the near term
because it is already producing the U-2 systems, of which it has delivered
six. The company has removed circuit cards from the hardware to meet Global
Hawk's lower weight and power capabilities. He said the software has worked
equally well with fewer hardware components. 
Nannen said it was too early to determine how much the units would cost, due
to unknowns about specific systems and how many would be produced. He said
the ability to "tailor" hardware to the Global Hawk would help the company
meet some cost objectives. Another factor in cost would be the extent to
which the Air Force would want the system to perform simultaneous functions.

Nannen said a scaled system could be delivered for aircraft integration in
less than six weeks, and modifications to ground equipment, the same stuff
being used now for the U-2 system, will be finished within four months. 
"Other Global Hawk concepts do not consider the ground station so
considerable additional cost and schedule would be required to provide and
operational capability," Nannen said. 
Raytheon currently makes the ground segment and some of the sensors for the
Global Hawk.

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