20
ISR
Boeings P-8 aircraft is already a strong
maritime ISR presence around the world and
was involved in the search for the missing
flight MH370. (Photo: US DoD)
Clearer
waters
W
hen armed intruders landed
undetected in the Malaysian state of
Sabah, on the island of Borneo, to
take over a local village in 2013, a capability gap
in the regions maritime ISR was highlighted.
Now, as the USN moves towards teaming
manned and unmanned aircraft for such
missions namely the manned P-8A Poseidon
and the MQ-4C Triton UAV industry is
counting on Asia-Pacifics increasing
need for these platforms to generate sales.
The navys maritime ISR family of systems is
becoming increasingly unmanned, providing
greater persistence to the fleet, USN
spokesman Joe Gradisher explained to
Digital Battlespace in October. At the same
time, our integration of unmanned platforms
with their manned counterparts also allows us
to maintain flexibility and rapid responsiveness
to changing tasks.
DIGITAL BATTLESPACE | November/December 2014 | Volume 6 Number 6
nn MOVING AHEAD
Citing several examples of a growing need for
maritime ISR including a December 2013
incident in Bahrain, where the relevant assets
helped locate and track a mother boat and a
speedboat carrying C4 high explosives, mines,
grenades and ammunition, as well as a March
2014 event where the capability enabled
detection of the merchant vessel Morning
Glory departing Libya under the control
of anti-government rebels the USN is moving
ahead with new plans for manned and
unmanned teaming in this arena.
In addition to greater persistence, the services
deputy Triton programme manager Sean Burke
told DB that teaming the aircraft provides a wide
variety of manning and training synergies.
Triton squadrons will be manned by folks
who are experienced flying and operating
P-8s and maintaining them, he explained.
A number of nations are
looking to upgrade or
acquire new maritime
ISR assets in light of
growing capability
gaps, particularly within
the Asia-Pacific region.
Ashley Roque
considers some of the
paths being taken.
So, we gain synergy within the overall navy
community though pairing those two systems
together as well.
Enhanced capabilities and potential teaming
benefits for customers are selling points as
industry ramps up efforts to gain export orders
for these platforms.
From the USNs perspective, with over three
quarters of the globe covered by water and
with a majority of the population living close by
the coast, the joint force maritime component
commander needs to understand whats
happening in this dynamic environment
where many sensors developed for overland
use are less effective, according to Gradisher.
The navy needs the ability to detect,
discern, track and engage contacts of interest
operating in the immediate vicinity of hundreds
of other contacts, such as fishing vessels or
merchant ships.
www.digital-battlespace.com

nn PITCHING CAPABILITIES
To combat a number of perceived threats,
the USN is currently developing and beginning
to field the P-8A and MQ-4C, and industry is
pushing the capabilities elsewhere.
India has already purchased eight Poseidons,
designated the P-8I, of which five have been
delivered, incorporating locally designed
features and manufactured subsystems.
Northrop Grumman, meanwhile, touted the
Tritons capability at Aero India 2013, a biannual
exhibition and air show at Air Force Station
Yelahanka in Bengaluru.
Meanwhile, in Australia the government
has approved the purchase of eight P-8As to
replace its aging fleet of AP-3C Orions. The
country is also set to buy the Triton as a
compatible capability.
For its part, Boeing says these two
international sales are only a starting point,
and when looking at the global market, the
Asia-Pacific region has room for growth for
the P-8A for maritime patrol, both for
recapitalising current capability and then
introducing new capability in that region,
Boeings P-8 business development director
James Detwiler told DB.
While hedging his bets over specific
countries, he said the company is preparing
for a significant need from the international
community, upwards of 80 aircraft, for the
enhanced capabilities provided by the P-8A
and the companys Maritime Surveillance
Aircraft (MSA).
The higher-end former platform is designed
for anti-submarine warfare (ASW), anti-surface
warfare (ASuW) and ISR, while the latter is an
unarmed maritime ISR aircraft integrating P-8A
sensors on Bombardiers Challenger 605
business jet platform.
While remaining tight-lipped about specific
sales prospects, Detwiler told DB that the
primary focus was on the Asia-Pacific region,
Europe and the Middle East.
Originally developed for the USN in the
1960s, many countries around the globe are
still flying versions of Lockheed Martins P-3
Orion including Germany, Greece, Iran, Japan,
Pakistan, New Zealand, Norway, South Korea,
Spain and Thailand and there is a competitive
www.digital-battlespace.com
market for those looking to either upgrade their
current fleet, as Taiwan is doing, or purchasing a
new aircraft.
Detwiler noted that with Australia now
procuring the P-8A, this is a step in the right
direction for Boeing in the Asia-Pacific region.
However, with a higher price tag associated
with the armed Poseidon, Boeing is also looking
to sell its smaller ISR-centric MSA.
nn INTERNAL DEBATE
With Boeing developing and marketing both
the P-8 and the MSA, Detwiler emphasised that
the company does not view the latter as a
lower-priced alternative. Instead, the OEM can
imagine marketing and selling mixed fleets.
They serve kind of adjacencies, in that if
a country doesnt need as many weapons
delivery platforms or ASW platforms, then they
can augment a P-8 fleet with a certain number
of MSAs to provide more ISR-type coverage,
he explained.
One advantage of a mixed fleet, he added, is
that back end operators can seamlessly move
between the two aircraft, since the mission
consoles and software are identical.
They would be operating the same human-
machine interfaces, noted Detwiler. There is
interoperability from a training perspective.
The number of analyst workstations on board maritime ISR platforms varies from single to
double figures, dependent on task organisation. (Photo: USN)
Volume 6 Number 6 | November/December 2014 | DIGITAL BATTLESPACE
21
ISR
As Boeing explores its mixed fleet concept,
the P-8A is continuing to undergo
development and fielding in the US.
nn ROLLING OUT
Currently, Boeing and the USN are completing
the system design and development phase for
the aircraft and beginning to roll the capability
out to the service.
While Boeing touts many enhanced
capabilities the type will provide militaries
with, Detwiler says the real revolution is
the aircrafts acoustic system and ESM.
Designed by Northrop Grumman,
the AN/ALQ-240(V)1 system is designed to
allow P-8A crews to detect and identify radar,
along with other electronic threats, to navy
vessels and aircraft.
You have a state-of-the-art Northrop
Grumman system to assist with the multi-
system search and identification of targets, and
thats a very capable system If we couple the
acoustic system and the ESM together, there
is a real leap forward with the P-8, Detwiler
explained. It truly is the high end when we
talk about [ASW] and ISR.
In addition to these added capabilities,
room for growth and an open architecture
provide flexibility so new weapons, sensors
22
ISR
Northrop Grummans Triton UAS has been developed to operate in tandem with P-8s. (Photo: USAF)
and technology insertions can be made down
the road.
Youre not stuck with the aircraft that you
procured in 2010 or 2014, he noted. You can
actually add technology as it changes and,
to that end, our entire mission system is
open-architecture.
For example, plans call for the aircraft to
carry Harpoon anti-ship missiles and Mk 54
ASW torpedoes. With the digital weapons
architecture, however, it would be possible
to migrate to other precision, joint digital
weapons without additional integration.
You just have to do a software modification
to enable precision strike weapons like the
JDAM [Joint Direct Attack Munition], for
instance, Detwiler said, noting that the JDAM
is not currently a programme of record.
nn SENSE AND AVOID
While P-8A aircraft development, testing and
fielding moves forward, the USN and Northrop
Grumman are also developing the MQ-4C. The
Triton a maritime variant of the RQ-4B Global
Hawk is designed to conduct real-time
maritime ISR.
Currently, the service plans to purchase
68 platforms over the programmes life cycle,
with delivery of Tritons first operational
capability in 2017, Burke informed DB.
One of the stumbling blocks along the way
in Tritons development path involved its sense
and avoid technology a radar designed to
help UAVs avert mid-air collisions.
In 2013, the USN halted development
of the Exelis Air-to-Air Radar Subsystem
due to technical challenges that led to cost
and schedule growth, according to Burke.
Then in June, the service awarded RDR Tec
DIGITAL BATTLESPACE | November/December 2014 | Volume 6 Number 6
a $3 million contract to develop radar
technology for the Triton and the MQ-8 Fire
Scout unmanned helicopter
Weve been figuring out what is that
right path to get that sense and avoid
capability, and we think weve got it, but were
not ready yet to describe it, Burke said, adding
that in the near term a technical solution will be
announced, with a goal of delivering the
capability by 2020.
As part of Tritons development, the service
has also begun testing operating the UAV in
combination with the P-8A.
nn TAG YOURE IT
Moving towards teaming the two aircraft, the
USN is currently testing the capability at the
box level in a lab before it begins flight testing
in 2016, according to Burke. He explained
that the aircraft capabilities and mission sets
complement one another, with the Tritons
primary mission zeroing in on maritime ISR,
while the P-8s focus is on ASW and ASuW
with the ability to prosecute targets.
More specifically, Burke described how
each Triton will be able to fly for 24 hours,
providing the force with a broad view of
the maritime area. With continual Triton
surveillance, if something is detected, the
P-8A can be launched to focus on its ASW
and ASuW mission area.
Under Tritons current concept of
operations, Burke said an MQ-4 launch and
recovery element will be stationed forward of
five orbit points. Once the aircraft is in the air,
one of five mission control stations three
located in Jacksonville, Florida, and two on
Whidbey Island, Washington will control
the mission and monitor sensor information.
At these stations, operators will do a first-pass
tactical analysis of collected data before passing
it on to fleet operators and shore-based
intelligence personnel for in-depth analysis.
The primary objective of all of that is to make
sure that the fleet operators have a picture of
the maritime domain that is as good as it could
possibly be, he explained.
Under the teaming, once a Triton identifies a
target of interest, a P-8A could be sent up and
data could be transmitted back and forth
between the two aircraft.
Triton will be able to relay from our high-
altitude perch, he continued. We will be able to
relay information from P-8s in other locations
and vice versa. But the physical control is not in
the capability set at this point.
While the GCS will control the Triton, Boeing
says that although it is not a programme of
record, down the road it would be technically
feasible for the operators in the P-8A to assume
control of the Triton.
Detwiler noted that the option for P-8A crews
to control the Triton is a capability inherent in
the software. So, it is envisioned, when we talk
about growth paths, that they might like to
implement that. They havent stated that yet,
but its provisioned for.
nn MOVING OUT
With both India and Australia purchasing
versions of the P-8, and the latter also signing
up to acquire the complementary Triton
UAV, industry is seeking to grow its
customer base by pushing the new assets
and teaming options.
With many militaries facing the decision
of whether to upgrade their ageing P-3 Orion
fleets or invest in new aircraft, sales pitches will
continue to intensify in the coming months and
years, involving manned and unmanned
teaming or a more cost-driven approach using
a mixed fleet of P-8s and MSAs.
While I cant get into specifics on countries,
I can tell you we do in fact have a global
market place, confirmed Detwiler. We have
developed many different campaigns on that.
We anticipate there would be a lot of follow-on
sales. There could be 80-plus aircraft out there
in that international market space. db
www.digital-battlespace.com