10.13.04
Jane's Defense Weekly
By Michael Sirak
US Air Force Sees Promise in 'Near Space'
The US Air Force wants to expand its activities into the untamed regions of the upper atmosphere that it designates 'near space' and use lighter-than-air vehicles there as communications links and sensor platforms to support theatre operations, according to service officials.
Operating at altitudes between 20km and 100km, above the highest flying aircraft and below the lowest orbiting satellites, the envisaged helium-filled free-floating balloons and guided manoeuvring craft could protect convoys, track friendly forces, assess battle damage and connect beyond-line-of-sight units at a fraction of the cost of existing overhead systems, officials said.
"Instead of costing tens of millions of dollars for an unmanned aerial vehicle [UAV] or hundreds of millions for a satellite, these things are thousands of dollars [compared] to a million or two per copy," said Colonel Ed Tomme, chief of the concept development branch within the Air Force Space Battlelab at Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado. This price excludes the payloads, but they remain a bargain even after factoring them in, he said.
Despite the low price, the air force views them as complements and not replacements to satellites or UAVs. Furthermore, they are not "pie-in-the-sky" ideas, said Col Tomme, noting that free-floating high-altitude balloons are already in use commercially. More sophisticated, manoeuvring designs that the air force is examining could be demonstrated in the next few years for about $10 million each - less money, he said, than it took for the air force to show that it could arm the RQ-1 Predator unmanned aerial vehicle.
Despite the promise, the air force has yet to earmark the funds to field them, according to a senior US defence official who has seen the service's funding request for Fiscal Year 2006. Nonetheless, air force leaders have said they intend to move in this realm and regard near space as an integral part of the service's emerging space warfighting concepts.
"We must determine what capabilities we can use in near space to improve the situational awareness of joint force commanders and leverage space power for all commanders in the field," Air Force Chief of Staff John Jumper told JDW on 5 October.
The Space Battlelab plans to conduct several near-space demonstrations in the next few years. First among them is the Combat SkySat Phase I initiative under which it will fly a free-floating high-altitude balloon before the end of 2004, made by Space Data Corporation of Phoenix, Arizona, that carries a signal repeater for the US Army's PRC 148 hand-held radio. The repeater will extend the radio's range from approximately 10km to 300km, said Col Tomme.
Three of these balloons could provide coverage over an area the size of Iraq, but would drift and need to be replenished several times a day, he noted.
The attrition associated with free floaters means the battlelab would also like to test a recoverable system in Phase II. It uses a balloon manufactured by GSSL of Portland, Oregon, which carries a foldable, sensor-equipped glider built by Aurora Flight Sciences of Manassas, Virginia. On reaching its operating altitude, the glider would separate from the balloon, expand fully and descend, all the while providing surveillance and reconnaissance coverage. It would land at a predetermined spot for recovery.
The battlelab is also involved with the Near Space Maneuvering Vehicle project that aims to prove the ability to maintain control over a steerable, high-altitude vehicle that is intended for longer periods of use. Flight tests are expected around May 2005.
Despite using the term 'near space' to describe this mission area, air force officials said they are not trying to create a new niche regime in order to circumvent existing legal conventions on air warfare and the use of space.
"We recognise fully that the existing laws and treaties will apply in near space," said Major Elizabeth Waldrop, chief of space and international law for Air Force Space Command. "At the altitudes that we are talking about today for these specific technologies, it is air law that will apply."
This means that flying over a country's airspace is an intrusion of its sovereignty. Accordingly, Col Tomme said near-space vehicles will operate outside of an adversary's airspace before a conflict. Only when hostilities started would the service fly them over the adversary's territory.
The air force is not alone in its interest. US Joint Forces Command is investigating near-space concepts and the National Reconnaissance Office, in co-operation with the Central Intelligence Agency, funded proof-of-concept work on the Advanced High Altitude Aerobody that New Mexico State University's Physical Sciences Lab is developing. Further, the US Navy is pursuing a 21.7m-diameter high-altitude balloon with Techsphere Systems International of Columbus, Georgia. The Missile Defense Agency's nascent High Altitude Airship concept is also designed to operate in the lower echelon of near space.
Additional reporting: Erin Grier, JDW Special Correspondent, Washington, DC, and Andrew Koch, JDW Bureau Chief, Washington, DC