Defense Technology International - April 2008 - (Page 40) DATA LINKS TACTICAL search and development and operational tests of the normal acquisition process.” He shuttled from Mosul in northern Iraq to Baghdad to Najaf in the south in 2004, teaching people how to use the Rover. In mid-April he was with a Marine patrol in Al Anbar Lt. Col. Gregory Harbin province when they were trains coalition forces on hit with rocket-propelled the Rover data link. grenades. Harbin knew a Predator was overhead, but the Rover’s laptop battery was dead and the Humvee he was in had no power outlet. So he hot-wired the laptop to the Humvee’s battery and, using Predator imagery, pinpointed the insurgents. The Predator killed the insurgents with a Hellfire missile, but not before shrapnel from an RPG embedded in Harbin’s left ear and two Marines were injured, one fatally. His actions earned him a Bronze Star. Harbin returned to Shaw AFB, S.C., and was assigned to the 609th Combat Operations Sqdn. In August 2005, he was ordered to New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, commanding a USAF team that applied Rover’s precision targeting techniques to support search-and-rescue operations. USAF dedicated 10 Rover 3s to post-Katrina operations. Their imagery helped military and civilian rescuers conduct house-to-house searches for storm victims. Rover received video downlinks from a number of aircraft. Combined, they provided 24-hr. streaming video. Although the FAA banned UAV flights around New Orleans, Harbin’s team sought other ways to generate video images. Taping an L-3 Evolution XTS UAV to a Black Hawk helicopter didn’t work because the images were shaky. Mounting the drone on a pedestal atop the 35-floor New Orleans Hilton and the 55-story St. Charles Building was more productive. Rover provided a persistent overview of the area. Harbin is now assigned to the secretary of the Air Force sta for special missions, the service’s lead expert on urban close air support and precision targeting. Last year, he went to Afghanistan to show NATO forces fighting the Taliban how to use Rover. U.S. AIR FORCE PHOTOS Meanwhile, upgrading continues. The Rover 4 receiver supports S-band analog signals used by federal, state and local disaster relief agencies. It also permits a JTAC to draw on the video screen in such a way that a pilot can also see the notation. The next version of the device, the Rover 5 Handheld, will weigh about 4 lb.—the Rover 4 weighs 20 lb. The Software Defined Radio will provide digital capability for full motion video. Rover 5 Handheld is backward compatible and interoperable with Rover 3 and Rover 4 units. Unlike earlier models, Rover 5 Handheld employs one-piece construction, with integral receiver, antennas and a small video display. L-3 Communications says prototypes will be in field trials this summer, and troops should start receiving them before the end of 2008. As Rover use spread among the services, proponents saw a need for a lighter-weight video receiver for dismounted operations. Two companies, UAV Pro and Coastal Defense, were approached by Harbin to develop the Miniature Multi-band Video Receiver III (MVR III) remote video receive terminal. Also referred to as Mini-Rover or Mover, the handheld device fits in a backpack. Greg Lumpkin, president of UAV Pro, says the MVR III is easy to use. “You can automatically scan and lock on transmitting frequencies or set a particular frequency manually.” An analog device, MVR III supports L, S and C bands, weighs less than 5 lb. (including batteries) and, like Rover, accepts video from drones and targeting pods. It has a backlit color LCD screen that is sunlight-readable. Southern California Microwave, an L-3 Communications company, provides the receiver. The MVR III, however, does not have the range and mapping capabilities of Rover. Nevertheless, Harbin says Mover provides a much-needed interim capability for dismounted forces. He believes it should stay in the field for a long time, and has a future with disaster relief, homeland security and law enforcement communities. There were fewer than 200 Rover units in the field in early 2005. As of last month, more than 3,200 kits worth $67 million were in use. More than 100 Movers worth $3.7 million have been fielded, and 300 are on order. The U.S. military may acquire as many as 16,500 Rover and Mini-Rover receivers. Fifteen coalition partners also field the devices. I U.S. Army sniper team trains with Rover during an exercise in Florida. UAV video feed can track targets. 40 DEFENSE TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL APRIL 2008
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