Black kite discretion.

The employment of aerospace assets in Special Operations has come to be primarily associated with specially-equipped fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft that insert small numbers of personnel into hostile territory, and resupply and extract them using highly trained crews and night-time low-level flying. However, development efforts are now concentrated on hand- or bungee-launched lightweight reconnaissance drones and the precise delivery of personnel and stores by guided parafoils.

As in many aspects of modern warfare, special air operations had their origins in Hitler's Germany. One of the surprises sprung on the Allies m the 1940 Blitzkrieg (lightning war) was the DFS 230A assault glider, which carried eight troops and was towed to the target area by a Junkers Ju 52/3m. It was first employed on 10 May in a dawn attack on the Belgian fort at Eben-Emael; ten of these gliders landing 78 heavily-armed Fallschirmtruppen (paratroopers) on the roof of the fort, which was disabled by large hand-placed shaped charges (another innovation).

The need for a shorter landing subsequently led to three forward-firing rockets being mounted in the nose, reducing ground roll to around 15 metres. Eight examples of this rocket-braked DFS 230C-1 were successfully employed on 12 September 1943 in Operation Eiche (Oak), to release Mussolini from imprisonment in a hotel on Gran Sasso in the Appenines (a location otherwise accessible only by cable car). In a joint operation by a Fallschirm-Battalion and troops of the Waffen-SS, led by Otto Skorzeny, Italy's Duce was subsequently extracted to Pratica di Mare (Rome) in a Fieseler Fi 156 Storch (Stork) Short Take-off and Landing (stol) utility aircraft.

The lessons learned in those early operations remain valid today, including the need for precision air delivery and the usefulness of stol aircraft. The continued use of such aircraft was brought out when an Iraqi Air Force Aerocomp CompAir 7SL crashed in a sandstorm 130 km from Baghdad in May 2005. Four of the five casualties were US Air Force personnel from Hurlburt Field, Florida, the headquarters of Air Force Special Operations Command (Afsoc).

The CompAir 7SL is a seven-seat stol aircraft with a 490 kW, Czech-built, Walter M601E turboprop, replacing the 200 kW piston engine of the baseline CompAir 7. Seven of these aircraft were purchased by the United Arab Emirates as a gift for Iraq. The 1.7-tonne, composite-built CompAir 7SL might be regarded as America's answer to Switzerland's legendary 2.6-tonne, ten-seat Pilatus PC-6, which is powered by a 410 kW Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-27 and first flew in 1959.

Special Delivery

In past conflicts the accurate delivery of men and supplies by parachute demanded release from below 2000 ft, a procedure now ruled out by shoulder-launched Sams. The problem of achieving precision airdrops has been particularly acute in Afghanistan, where mountainous terrain severely restricts the DZ (drop zone) area.

However, it is now possible to paradrop accurately from high level, by combining steerable parafoils with satellite navigation and/or radio command guidance. In some cases a conventional unguided round parachute is used for the terminal phase, to provide a soft landing.

The Flight Refuelling Cads (Controlled Aerial Delivery System) is already in service with several armed forces. Cads employs an Irvin-GQ ram-air parafoil which is guided by coded radio commands that are provided either manually by a following parachutist or ground personnel, or automatically by a beacon on the ground. The system is intended for releases above 25,000 ft, providing an offset of up to 25 km. it is designed for payloads of 150 to 500 kg. An accuracy of 20 metres has been demonstrated in manually guided tests, degrading to 100 metres with automatic homing. The Cads is claimed to have a life of at least 50 drops.

Another serious contender is Canada's Mmist (Mist Mobility Integrated Systems Technology) series of GPS/radio-guided parachute delivery systems, providing a CEP (Circular Error Probable) of less than 100 metres. The baseline Sherpa has three parafoil options, sized for 230,460 and 550-kg payloads. It was first employed operationally in Iraq by a US Marine Corps Reserve KC-130T squadron (VMGR-452) in August 2004, dropping supplies in a combat support situation.

The 635-kg Powered Sherpa has an 80 kW piston engine and is designed for release at up to 18,000 ft with a 270 kg payload. A batch of 36, designated CQ-10A SnowGoose, is being evaluated by America's Special Operations Command (US Socom) as a means to dispense Psy-Ops (Psychiatric Operations) leaflets over Iraq and Afghanistan. Mmist also produces a similarly guided one-man ManPack.

A third example in this rapidly growing field is America's Atair Aerospace Onyx series, which is designed for payloads ranging from 34 to 1000 kg and release altitudes up to 35,000 ft. The Onyx employs a highly loaded, GPS/INS-guided elliptic ram-air parafoil for a high-speed descent (minimising exposure to winds), and an unguided round parachute for a soft landing. The Onyx was developed under contract with the US Army Natick Soldier Center (NSC) and with support of the Festo Corporation. It performed the first flight demonstration of its formatting and collision-avoidance algorithms in December 2004, when five systems were released in a single drop. The US Army is interested in ultimately dropping up to 60 units at the same time.

Atair Aerospace, which claims to produce the world's most efficient parachute wings, is also developing composite materials that are 300 per cent stronger and almost 70 per cent lighter than conventional ZP nylon. These new materials will also hold their shape better, producing significantly less drag. The company has referred to a lift:drag ratio of 4.5:1, implying a 48 km range from 35,000 ft in still air conditions.

Atair is also working with Rockwell Collins and Kaiser Electro-Optics on a helmet-mounted high-altitude release, high/low opening (Haho/Halo) navigation aid, combining GPS/INS inputs with a monocular display. This Haho/Halo device will provide a member of the Special Forces with day/night all-weather imagery of the target area and the in-flight locations of the rest of the team. The NSC is reportedly studying three such MFF (military free-fall) navigation systems.

The US Army earlier specified a Pegasys (Precision and Extended Glide Airdrop System) family of possible requirements, relating to different payload categories. More recently, its Pegasys-XL, for payloads of 90 to 1000 kg, and Pegasys-L for loads of 1.0 to 4.5 tonnes, have been integrated with the US Air Force Pads-MP (Mission Planning) system, which plugs into the navigation computer of an Air Mobility Command (AMC) Lockheed Martin C-130 or Boeing C-17. This combination provides the basis for the Jpads (Joint Precision Airdrop System) ACTD (advanced concept technology demonstration) programme. This was launched in FY2004, under the auspices of US Joint Forces Command, and is expected to be extended later to include heavier payloads.

One low-cost Jpads contender is the Agas (Affordable Guided Airdrop System), being developed jointly by America's Vertigo and Capewell Components. The Agas employs existing equipment in the form of the G12 steerable round parachute and the A-22 cargo bag. Prior to releasing the payload, a windsonde is dropped from the parent aircraft to provide wind vector data as a function of altitude.

At the Precision Airdrop Technology Conference And Demonstration at Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona in October 2005, over 15 systems were to be tested, leading to a joint military utility assessment around two months later.

Jpads may also benefit from European developments. For example, Eads Defence Electronics is producing the Parafinder/Paralander system (military designation SLG-Sys) for German's airborne troops; it is being developed in cooperation with the Bundeswehr WTD-61 test centre. The Parafinder is for individual paratroops and includes a helmet-mounted display. The Paralander caters for loads up to six tonnes, release heights up to 33,000 ft and offsets to 50 km. Prescott Products of Texas has an agreement with Eads to manufacture a Precision Parachute Delivery System (PPDStm) under licence, featuring a patented 'dynamic flare' to soften impact.

Dutch Space of Leiden has useful experience in parachute-based recovery systems, having provided those for the 17-tonne Ariane One first stage and for the 35-tonne boosters for Ariane Five. The company has also participated with parachute descent simulations in studies for the Crew Rescue Vehicle for the International Space Station and for guided parafoil systems to suit re-entry vehicles weighing up to 3.2 tonnes.

In co-operation with the Netherlands' National Aerospace Laboratory, Dutch Space is now developing its Spades (Small Parafoil Autonomous Delivery System).

Designed initially for a payload of 200 kg, release at up to 30,000 ft and offsets of up to 40 km, Spades employs a Zodiac/Aerazur ARZ G9 ram air parachute (as used by the Netherlands' Korps Commandotroepen) and GPS guidance; giving an accuracy of 100 metres. Impact loads are reduced by a shock-absorbing base. Development is supported by the Royal Netherlands Army (RNLA), and drop tests are being carried out from an RNLAF C-130H. Feasibility studies cover variants of the Spades with payloads up to five tonnes.

Other developments relevant to Jpads include the Para-Flight Para-Point, and the Strong Enterprises Screamer, designed for loads of 270 kg and 2.7 tonnes respectively. Like the Onyx, the Screamer employs a steerable ram-air parafoil followed by a conventional round parachute to provide for a soft touchdown.

The Stara Technologies Generic Delivery System, being developed with US Navy support, is intended for small canister-launched payloads, such as ground-based chemical/biological agent detectors that could be delivered by drones. A special feature is the use of Cuben Fiber composite parachute fabric, originally developed for racing yachts. This material is reportedly 350 per cent stronger and 75 per cent lighter than the traditional ripstop nylon.

The US Navy is funding studies of more conventional gliding logistics drones (looking more like submunition-dispensers) that could be dropped from aircraft or possibly catapulted from ships, delivering to Marines urgently needed items such as ammunition, batteries and medical supplies. A ten-man section would typically require 450 kg to be delivered every three days, corresponding to a payload volume of 0.5 cubic metres. The range required is at least 90 km, although 370 km is desirable. The Advanced Logistics Delivery System is currently seen as a 680-kg glide vehicle with folding or inflatable wings, extracted by parachute from a C-130. A lift/drag ratio of 20:1 would provide a range of 180 km from 30,000 ft.

In 2004 US Naval Air Systems Command completed tests of the 76-kg Aerovironment Hawkeye or ULAV (Unmanned Logistics Air Vehicle), a tandem-wing project with fold-out aerofoils. The Hawkeye has been under development since 2001 for Socom. The X-Glider was a larger version that was studied for the US Navy but funding was terminated in 2003.

Flying Binoculars

Once on the ground, special forces generally have an urgent requirement for close-range airborne reconnaissance, since their insertion often precedes the establishment of detailed routine surveillance of the operations area. Over the last two decades a series of man-portable sensor-equipped drones has emerged to fulfil such needs.

The mother of all backpack drones is the 3.8-kg electrically powered Aerovironment FQM-151A Pointer, which first flew in 1986 with a black-and-white camera providing live imagery at the ground station. It was employed by the US Army and Marine Corps in the 1991 Gulf War. A complete system with two drones can be carried in two 22 kg backpacks. The Pointer has gone through a series of upgrades, including the addition of GPS navigation and a thermal imager in 1995. It has been employed successfully in both Afghanistan and Iraq. In a recent nose count, the Army had 555 air vehicles, Socom had 94, and the US Air Force 32.

The Aerovironment RQ-11A Raven is an even lighter (1.9 kg) derivative, taking advantage of reductions in battery and electric motors weights. It first flew in 2001 and entered service two years later. The US Army is buying 185 systems, the US Air Force 41 and Socom 70; giving a total of around 850 air vehicles. Well over 200 of these drones have so far been delivered to Socom, in addition to which the US Air Force has more than 80. The drone itself costs around $ 35,000 and a complete system $ 250,000. The Raven employs the same ground station as the Pointer and is recovered by the same deep-stall procedure.

In 2003 Aerovironment was selected to produce the 2.6-kg, twin-motor Dragon-Eye, which had been designed by the US Naval Research Laboratory for the US Marine Corps. It first flew in 2000 and deliveries began in 2004. The Dragon Eye carries two cameras and is bungee-launched with an endurance of 53 minutes. The service plans to acquire 467 systems with a total of 1400 air vehicles over a five-year period--some 135 drones had been delivered by early 2005. A possible US Navy version is referred to as the Sea-All. The improved Dragon Eye Block One will enter service in 2006, with a longer endurance, a day/night camera with zoom lens and an upgraded datalink.

To complete Aerovironment's current electric mini-drone range (of which the company has produced over 2000 examples), the Puma is a 4.6-kg proposed replacement for the Pointer, and the Swift is being produced for an unspecified export customer, using a Raven ground control system. The Evolution is a BAI export version. The US Army's Small UAV (Suav) programme is aimed at replacing the Raven.

The other principal electrically powered mini-drone in American service is the 3.2 kg Desert Hawk, which was developed by the US Air Force Electronic System Center to meet a Centcom Force Protection Airborne Surveillance System (Fpass) requirement. The Desert Hawk is licence-built by Lockheed Martin under the name Sentry Owl. The US Air Force ordered 20 systems, each with six air vehicles. Deliveries began in 2002. The system became operational in Iraq in mid-2004, and by early 2005 some 126 of these drones had been delivered. It is used primarily for air base protection, in conjunction with ground-based sensors.

The follow-on Fpass-2 is already being developed by BAI Aerosystems, which has sold over 1000 mini-drones and in January 2005 was taken over by L-3 Communications. The BAI proposal for Fpass-2 appears to be based on the Evolution-XT, a derivative of the Dragon Eye. It will provide an endurance of 90 minutes, compared to 60 for Fpass-1. Some 20 examples of the baseline 2.95-kg Evolution have been supplied to Socom for trials in Afghanistan. The BAI Snake Eye is another derivative of the Dragon Eye, developed for use by the US Navy Seals. It has a new flight control system and thermal imager.

Another mini-drone employed by Socom in Afghanistan and Iraq is the BAI Aerosystems XPV-1 Tern, a much heavier (60 kg) air vehicle with a nine-kW two-stroke engine. The Tern is designed for rough field operation and has a high-mounted engine and provisions for underslung loads. It is launched by means of a trailer-mounted pneumatic catapult and has an endurance of over five hours. The Tern has also been demonstrated from a US Navy LPD (USS Denver). Some 65 Terns have been delivered.

Socom has received 30 examples of the XPV-2 Mako drone, which is in the same 60-kg class as the Tern, powered by a 7.t kW engine and produced by Navmar Applied Sciences and BAI Aerosystems.

The remarkable success of electrically powered American mini drones has inspired a series of Israeli developments. The main winner appears to be the 5.5-kg Elbit Skylark, which was selected by the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) in February 2004, deliveries beginning 13 months later. Unusually in this category, it has a fully stabilised EO payload with a 10:1 optical zoom, and a fan-inflated airbag to cushion the landing impact from a deep stall. The Skylark evidently impressed the evaluators with its ability to land consistently within five metres of the operator.

Israeli companies are working on several flying-wing mini drones, such as 4.1 kg IAI/Malat Bird Eye 400 (which lands inverted), the Skylark-A and the 6.5 kg Aeronautics Defense Systems Orbiter. In the absence of an IDF order, attention appears to be concentrated on the international paramilitary market. In the micro category, IAI has developed the 0.5-kg Mosquito, which is a drone that is small enough to be flown through the window of a building.

Although not selected by the IDF, one of the more interesting Israeli projects is the Rafael Skylite, which is designed specifically for urban warfare. Boosted from its canister by means of a small propellant charge, the 6.5-kg Skylite can be launched from a roof or window, or even from the middle of a crowd.

Germany's EMT has developed the three-kg, electrically powered Aladin, which was deployed by the German Army in pre-series form to Kosovo in 2000. A batch of twelve improved systems with 28 air vehicles was ordered for the service in August 2002, and the Aladin is now in use in Afghanistan. It has also been employed as a testbed for an Eads miniature Sar (Synthetic Aperture Radar).

Appreciating the fresh challenges posed by urban warfare, several nations are turning their attention to man-portable vtol drones that can hover and stare. However, vtol demands proportionally far more thrust, ruling out electric motors in favour of internal combustion engines.

In this class, the lead will probably be provided by the US Army, which plans to procure a Class One vtol drone weighing less than 6.8 kg. In January 2005 Honeywell (with AAI as airframe subcontractor) began tests with a 5.7-kg ducted fan micro air vehicle, powered by a three-kW model aircraft engine. This is to be replaced by a heavy fuel engine in 2006, and the US Army is expected to buy up to 50 of this improved model for evaluation. The Raven is serving as an interim Class One.

In a much larger vtol category, the Boeing/Frontier Maverick is a 620-kg unmanned version of the RobinsonR22 helicopter, with a 108 kW engine. Five are being purchased under a joint Darpa/ Army/Navy programme.

The DRS Unmanned Technologies Neptune is a 36.3-kg drone with an 11.2-kW engine, designed for launch from a ship and recovery into the sea. It first flew in 2002 and 27 are being purchased by the US Navy.

Full-Scale

The role of manned aircraft in special operations was examined in some detail in the Armada International Complete Guide of issue 6/2004. The principal player in the fixed-wing category is the Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules series. The Afsoc gunship inventory will soon consist of four AC-130Hs and 17 AC-130Us, but it is accepted that the Hercules' use is restricted to a low-threat environment, and that from around 2015 a more survivable 'AC-X' is desirable. In August 2005 it was announced that Northrop Grumman has been contracted to develop a Viper Strike missile installation for the AC-130.

In more conventional transport-related roles, Afsoc has moved 14 MC-130E Combat Talon Is to the reserves, while 22 MC-130H Combat Talon IIs (to be supplemented by ten more) are flown by three active squadrons. These aircraft are primarily tasked with the insertion, resupply and extraction of special forces, but they are also used as tankers for Afsoc helicopters. Up to 54 Combat Talon IIIs will be procured as tankers for helicopters of the US Army's expanded 160th Special Operations Air Regiment.

Afsoc has 24 MC-130P Combat Shadow tankers (and four with the National Guard) to support special operations helicopters. The HC-130P/N is a tanker for combat search and rescue (Csar) helicopters. There are 13 with active squadrons and 23 with National Guard and Air Force Reserve units. Some electronic warfare EC-130E/Hs will be replaced by EC-130Js, five of which are already on order. The EC-130E seen on our cover is one of seven such aircraft operated by the 42nd Airborne Command & Control Squadron from Davis-Monthan AFB.

Soll (Special Operations--Low Level) refers to specially equipped transports that are flown by equally specially trained crews, to penetrate hostile airspace at night and use unlit or infrared-marked airstrips. This role is currently performed by Soll-II Boeing C-17s. Soon after 9/11, C-17s of the 437th Airlift Wing inserted US Navy Seabees into a dirt strip in Afghanistan; in 40 sorties delivering over 400 personnel and 1300 tonnes of equipment for the construction of Camp Rhino. Likewise, at the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom, seven C-17s flew over 200 sorties to insert 2400 personnel and 4200 tonnes of cargo.

Sikorsky currently dominates the Csar helicopter field, with the Afsoc HH-60G Pave Hawk and MH-53J Pave Low III/IV. However, the HH-60G is due to be replaced by the Csar-X (formerly the Personnel Recovery Vehicle) from around 2011, with 141 aircraft required. The known contenders are the Eurocopter/ Agusta Westland NH90 (as used by Greek Army Special Forces), the Sikorsky H-92 Superhawk, the Lockheed Martin VH71A (formerly US101) variant of the AgustaWestland International EH101; the PRV-22 version of the Osprey could have been a contender but according to Bell-Boeing the requirements lean more on traditional helicopter performance than on range and speed.

The US Army's USASOC MH-60K/Ls are expected to be brought to MH-60M standard, now with 1950-kW General Electric CT7-8B5 engines, while its MH-47D/Es will be upgraded to MH-47Gs. Europe's leaders in this category are the Eurocopter EC725 Resco, used by the French Air Force, and the Merlin HC3 version of the EH101, used by Britain's Royal Air Force.