Canada's Force Protection and Offensive Operations

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Comments provided by BGen J.B. Bruce Ploughman, Chief of Staff, Canadian Expeditionary Force Command, Canada National Defence.

Can you highlight some of the main uses of UAS in the Afghan theater – what did the Manley report highlight about Canada’s use of UAS in conflict? 

As could be expected, the UAS were in general terms used for both defensive (force protection) and offensive operations.  At low altitude, the small UAV's (e.g. Scaneagle, Sperwer) could be used to check out an area/route just prior to a Company move or a convoy.  They were useful for gaining initial situational awareness from which a decision could be made to put more persistent means in place if required.  At medium altitude the larger UAV's (e.g. Heron, Predator, Reaper) could be used for more persistent "eyes-on" in order to determine pattern of life prior to a deliberate operation as well as monitor for threats during a deliberate operation.  These larger UAV's could also be used to support kinetic attacks - all could be used to direct ordinance to a target and the Predator and Reaper, if armed, could actually conduct the attack.  The Manley Report spoke of the requirement to have "...high-performance Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance before February 2009" - something that was achieved with the first Heron UAV flight in Kandahar on 1 Jan 2009. 

You’ll touch on this in more detail at the conference, but could you please briefly highlight some of the major challenges faced in relation to the use of UAVs in theatre (SOPs, TTPs, standards, etc…)

The major challenges were exactly as outlined - SOPs, TTPs, standards...or lack thereof.  We were learning as we were fighting with no benchmark as reference.  By using the fundamental tenets of airworthiness, the principles of continuous improvement and smart management of risk, the initial capability of Sperwer and the follow-on capability of Heron advanced continuously until they were stood down.

What would you identify as a key enabler/s to the effects produced in theater?

The key enabler was integration.  This started by having analysts as part of the Heron UAV detachment so the feed from the UAV could be analyzed real time.  The feed was also pushed to critical end users like the battle group, the aviation battalion and the task force headquarters.  The net result was rapid generation of "actionable intelligence" - we could move quickly from data to information to knowledge to action.

With the recent implementation of the Canadian First Defense Strategy – what role do you anticipate for UVS?

There is an ever-growing focus on arctic sovereignty, especially as the arctic is expected to become navigable year-round within several decades.  Sovereignty requires surveillance - the arctic represents a vast area that is currently impractical to survey with any degree of persistence with air-breathing assets.  In the spectrum of complementary capabilities required for this challenge, UVS will undoubtedly play a role.

Contributor:   IDGA Editorial Staff

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