Brief History of Army MI - Fort Huachuca - U.S. Army

A GUIDE TO STUDYING HISTORY AT FORT HUACHUCAto satisfy tactical commanders whowere desperate for detailed photographyof targets in their area of responsibility.There were not always processesin place to disseminate satelliteimagery at the national level down tothe tactical users. An exception wasthe XVIII Corps which, as the nation’scontingency force, had their own satellitetransmission capability, the TacticalExploitation of National Capabilities(TENCAP) Imagery ExploitationSystem, back at Fort Bragg. TheArmy force structure had eliminatedthe aerial exploitation units at divisionand corps level, choosing to dependon imagery produced at higherlevels and transmitted to them viadigital bandwidths. The communicationssystems for this imagery wasstill in development and not ready forthe battlefield. The gap was filledwith off-the-shelf software and prototypeequipment.Two battlefield surveillance systemswere deployed in OperationDESERT SHIELD/STORM withremarkable success. These were theJoint Surveillance Target Attack RadarSystem (JSTARS) and the unmannedaerial vehicle (UAV). TheJSTARS was in developmental stages.It consisted of a synthetic apertureradar mounted in an Air Force Boeing707 that could operate in a targetingmode or as a surveillance system, orin both modes simultaneously. Thenear-real-time information passedback to air or artillery weapons systemswas detailed enough to targetattacks while the surveillance field ofvision was 25x20 kilometers, largeenough to watch movement in theentire Kuwaiti theater of operations.The system allowed the commanderto see to a depth of 150 kilometers inall kinds of weather.A JSTARS package was deployedto Saudi Arabia in mid-January. Itconsisted of two E-8A aircraft (speciallymodified Boeing 707s), and sixground station modules. Each groundstation was manned by a sergeant andtwo specialists. They were located atCENTAF Tactical Air CommandCenter, ARCENT Main, ARCENTForward, XVIII Corps, VII Corps,and with the Marine headquarters.Special modifications were made tothe two aircraft to enhance datalinkconnectivity to the Riyadh-basedheadquarters. Self-defense systemswere added to the planes to increasetheir survivability in the event air superioritywas not achieved. The rangeof the JSTARS was also doubled forthe Gulf War deployment. TheJSTARS increased the limited coveragethat was provided by Side-LookingAirborne Radar (SLAR) missionsflown by the Mohawk battalions assignedto VII and XVIII Corps.On one occasion when B-52s arrivedon station and cloud cover preventedthem from finding targets, theCENTCOM Air Force commander,Lt. Gen. Charles A. Horner, turnedto JSTARS. Pfc. Timothy Reagan onduty in the ground station pointedout an Iraqi convoy that he had onhis screen and Horner directed the airstrike against it, destroying the convoyand demonstrating the value ofboth JSTARS and its operators.When the ground war began,JSTARS provided the ARCENT G2the capability of tracking all Iraqimovements and determine what theirplan of action was. These situationalassessments were extremely importantto the corps commanders who couldreadjust their attack plans at variouspoints in the decision-making process.To give the commander a betterclose-in picture, the Pioneer UnmannedAerial Vehicles (UAV) werecalled upon. There were six PioneerUAV systems deployed to OperationDESERT STORM—One each onthe battleships Wisconsin and Missouri,three with the Marine Corps, and onesystem deployed with an Army taskforce. The latter was a 36-man platoonof five UAVs sent from FortHuachuca on 10 January. It arrivedin the theater on 26 January andlaunched its first mission on 1 Februaryin the VII Corps. The soldiersfrom Company E, 304th MI Battalion,111th MI Brigade, operated a400-pound, prop-driven airplanemounted with a television camerathat was capable of day or night monitoringof the battlefield. The UAVhad two ground pilots, one to maketakeoffs and landings and another tofly it down range. It had a payloadoperator to monitor the onboard camera,a mechanic to perform maintenance,and an electronic technician.The Pioneer, with its 100-mile range,24-hour capability, and near-real-timedata link, could provide targeting informationand act in a reconnaissancerole.TROJAN SPIRIT, a satellite thattransmitted secure voice and digitalimagery to trailer-mounted terminals,was another system that was rushedto the battlefield from the testing labs.It arrived in February, was fielded andits operators trained.Despite the admirable efforts torush the means of disseminating imageryintelligence to the field, it was acase of too little too late, and most ofthe mountain of imagery was movedby old fashioned courier. “ThroughoutJanuary and February, daily courierscarried 200 pounds of annotated48Call (520) 533-3638, DSN 821-3638, FAX (520) 533-5736.