Target location and laser designation via electro-optic sensors: a three-tiered strategy.

There is a significant warfighting capabilities gap between what target location and laser designation equipment the forward observer (FO) has and what he requires, a gap being reinforced by ongoing operations in the Middle East.

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In response, the Field Artillery School has devised a three-tiered strategy to fill that gap. This strategy will give the FO electro-optical sensors that are handheld, tripod-mounted and platform-mounted. The handheld sensor will be very lightweight at three to five pounds for dismounted FOs--potentially the dismounted optic system (DIOPTIC).

The second tier, the tripod-mounted sensor, also used in dismounted operations, will be light, about 30 pounds, and provide significantly greater range than the handheld sensor--plus, as a stabilized system, add laser designation. The lightweight laser designator rangefinder (LLDR) is replacing the tripod-mounted ground/vehicular laser locator designator (G/VLLD).

The last tier, the platform-mounted sensor, is not weight-constrained and will be the most capable locator designator sensor on the battlefield. The system being developed for this tier is the fire support sensor system (F[S.sup.3]).

Handheld Sensors. Dismounted observers have a critical and immediate need for a handheld, lightweight, eye-safe, digitally connected, day night target location device to marry with a laser designation module. The current system, the mini-eye safe laser infrared observation set (MELIOS), is too heavy and neither digitally connected nor night-capable.

As part of the Rapid Fielding Initiative (RFI), the Army has been buying commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products, namely the Viper/Vector 21 and Mark VII. Five brigade sets already have been bought and fielded and an additional 11 to 15 more sets are pending.

Although these COTS systems are lighter and digital with some limited night capability, they fall short of meeting Army requirements. The continuing need for a more capable handheld target location and laser designation system prompted the FA School to finalize requirements for the DIOPTIC, With funding, the system could be fielded in 2007.

The DIOPTIC will be a handheld, lightweight (objective weight of three pounds) eye-safe target recognition and location system that is digitally connected and battery-operated and has a 10-kilometer range in the day and two-kilometer range at night. An FO/fire support team (FIST) Soldier will use the DIOPTIC, which will be similar in size to the standard M22 binoculars.

The DIOPTIC will determine the range, azimuth and vertical angle to the target and export this data to a global positioning system (GPS) device for computation of target grid location. Via a split cable, the DIOPTIC will be connected to a GPS and FO system, enabling it to transmit automated data for calls-for-fire. The FO systems will be the light forward entry device (LFED) or the pocket-sized forward entry device (PFED). (For more information on the FO systems, see the article "PFED, LWTDS and GDU-R: You Want Tactical Handhelds? We've Got Tactical Handhelds!" by Paul C. Manz, et al in the May-June 2003 edition.)

Ultimately, the DIOPTIC will transmit calls-for-fire wirelessly.

Without power, the DIOPTIC will operate as a direct-view optic to detect and engage targets and will replace both the FO/FIST's MELIOS and M22 binoculars. The objective DIOPTIC will be mated with a lightweight designator. In the future, its functions and capabilities will migrate into the Land Warrior system for every joint observer in the Army.

Tripod-Mounted. The tripod-mounted LLDR complements the DIOPTIC and is replacing the G/VLLD.

The LLDR is a fully digital target location and designation system with an internal precision lightweight GPS receiver (PLGR). It combines second-generation forward-looking infrared (FLIR) with a thermal capability to provide day and night optics superior to the G/VLLD, particularly on an obscured battlefield.

Its greatest advantage, though, lies in its weight. The LLDR weighs only 35 pounds, about one-third of the G/VLLD (109 pounds). No other system can provide these capabilities at that low weight.

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The handheld and tripod-mounted target location/laser designation systems together provide the appropriate mix of capabilities at an acceptable weight to support forcible-entry operations. These types of operations can be the most demanding on dismounted observers, for example, when the force conducts airborne operations to secure an airfield.

Unlike the DIOPTIC, the LLDR is in production. As a result of an operational needs statement, the first 21 production models were fielded to the 25th Infantry Division Artillery in January 2004 just before the division deployed to Iraq. Unfortunately, over the last few years, funding has been stripped away from the LLDR program. This has lengthened the end date of its fielding from 2013 until 2019.

Platform-Mounted Sensors. This final leg of the sensor strategy is the F[S.sup.3]. Production models of the F[S.sup.3] will be mounted on Knight vehicles in early 2005 and on Stryker vehicles in 2006.

The F[S.sup.3] optical sensor will give the force the critical ability to see a minimum of five kilometers at night and other capabilities as specified in the "Heavy-Light Fire Support Vehicle Operational Requirements Document."

The F[S.sup.3] will be a long-range advanced scout surveillance system (LRA[S.sup.3]) that has been engineered to laser designate using the designation module from the LLDR. The F[S.sup.3] will provide optics superior to those of the G/VLLD through its second-generation FLIR, doubling the G/VLLD's range under obscured conditions (and, therefore, doubling the designation range) and tripling the G/VLLD's night range. F[S.sup.3] optics also will be superior to those of the M7A2 and the M3A3 Bradley FIST vehicles (and their Bradley fighting vehicle counterparts).

The other significant capability the F[S.sup.3] will provide is a small target location error (TLE). Because the F[S.sup.3] will complement the Knight and Stryker vehicles, it will take advantage of the vehicles' mission equipment packages, including the inertial navigation systems, and realize TLEs four to five times smaller than those of the LRA[S.sup.3]--TLEs of less than 20 meters.

The F[S.sup.3] will give the heavy forces the flexibility they need to operate in complex and urban terrain.

This three-tiered sensor strategy--target location/laser designation capabilities for now, in the near-term and future--will provide the force a wide range of capabilities and increased accuracy and, when paired with the appropriate munitions, will help bring the commander's desired effects on targets with little or no collateral damage. This strategy fills some of the critical gaps of the FO/FIST warfighting requirements.

By Major Karen P. Walters, EN

Major Karen P. Walters, Engineer (EN), is the Chief of the Fire Support Branch in the Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) Proponency Office-Sensors (TPO-S) of the Futures Development Integration Center (FDIC), Fort Sill. Oklahoma. She commanded Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 9th Engineer Battalion, 1st Infantry Division (Mechanized) in Germany, and in Camp Bedrock, Bosnia. In addition, she was the J3 Operations Officer for the Joint Task Force Provide Promise (Forward) in Zagreb, Croatia. She holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Widener University in Pennsylvania and an MS in Civil Engineering from Mississippi State University. Major Walters is a member of the Army Engineers and Scientists Program that places Acquisition Corps officers in critical technical positions throughout the Army, including in deployed units.