4th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron MC12 Informational Brief

UNCLASSIFIED
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This Briefing is:

Lt Col Dan McDonald 4 ERS/ADO

Overview
My Deployment Concept/Milestones Aircraft Specifications/Modifications Training/Aircrew Employment Mission Management

Deployment
4th ERS Ferried Aircraft to AOR 195 Days at Bagram AF, Afghanistan 555 Combat Hours Flown 115 Combat Sorties

Project Liberty Concept

Aircraft Capabilities MX-15i Electro Optical / Infrared (Full Motion Video) sensor (On board storage) Laser Illum / Designator capability SIGINT sensors Direct downlink to ground forces Robust communications Self-protection system Blue Force Tracker 3 - 5 hrs on-station depending on weather Operations Concept Government owned and operated Capable of 24/7 operations Coordinated Air/Ground Operations FMV provided directly to Ground CC/ ISREC/TOC PED provides data via SIPR BLOS capability C-12 Class Aircraft Lightweight, small footprint, easy to operate/maintain, self-deploy Configuration similar to existing aircraft in other DoD components Acft 1-7 BE350 (max t/o 15,000lbs) Acft 8-37 BE350ER (max t/o 16,500lbs)

Project Liberty Milestones

1 Jul 08 SecDef decision: AF procure 37 C-12 class aircraft to augment unmanned ISR SIGINT systems CONEMP signed 18 Sept 08 Schedule: Deliver within 5 months, start deploying in approx 6 months First Delivery: Spring 2009 June 09 first aircraft arrived to 362nd ERS Balad AB, Iraq Dec 09 first aircraft arrived 4th ERS Bagram AF, Afghanistan
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Project Liberty Milestones (Contd)

Mar 10 - 361st ERS stood-up at Kandahar AB, Afghanistan 30 operational aircraft delivered in just 13 months Over 5,000 combat hours to date, 22,000 full-motion video hours and over 40,000 images taken Beale AFB, CA has been announced as the preferred CONUS-base
Environmental Impact Studies to follow Plan to activate two CONUS Active Duty squadrons Stand-up in 2011 timeframe
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Exterior Modifications
ASE Suite (Aircraft Survivability Exterior Paint Equipment) EO/IR Turret MX-15i/Di Two ALE-47 Dispensers SIGINT Systems
G-Box Wind Jammer (WJ) Pennant Race (PR) Four AAR-47(V)2 Missile Warning Sensors

CAT Pod / L-3 Fairing

Interior Modifications
Flight Deck Sensor Operator Cytological Operator Oxygen Modifications Communication Modifications Lavatory/Cargo Compartment

Internal Configuration

CO Station

SO Station
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MC-12 Crew
Aircrew: Two Pilots And Two Mission Crew
Deployed crew ratio of 2.5; total of 75 aircrews for 30 aircraft Sustained ops tempo: Currently 179-day deployment; 1 and done with some aircrew will be retained for Instructor upgrade

ISREC (5th Crewmember) Manpower sourced primarily from AF DCGS

3-5 Imagery Analysts

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Training
Pilot IQT - 15 days at Flight Safety International Sensor/Crypto operators IQT/systems training conducted at Key Field Meridian, MS Crew MQT conducted at Key Field, Meridian, MS
Duration ~ 30 days, ~ 12 sorties

Concept of Employment
MC-12 aircraft capable of flying 24/7 in theater Find: The CO/SO and ISREC team Finds Fix: The SO and ISREC team Fixes Finish: Coalition ground/air forces Finish It is a single Weapon System in which entire team has an integral, essential, and important role.

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Sensors
Wescam MX-15i = Full Motion Video (FMV)
Daylight Electo-Optical (EO) w/Spotter Near Infrared Laser Range Finder Laser Illuminator On-board Recording

Active/Passive SIGINT Systems

EO Wide

EO Spotter

IR Spotter
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Simplified Operations Concept

Onboard SIGINT Operator FMV Operator Beyond Line of Sight

Line of Sight Datalink

Combat Support Agency

AF ISR Centralized Processing Exploitation Dissemination (PED) Cell

ROVER / OSRVT
Common User Comms
Other Supported Ground Forces

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Mission Management
Mission Commander Laptop Docked and stowed in the doghouse Dual monitor system Connected to the SECRET LAN SENTRY / TORCH software installed Maps reside on MMS1

MC Laptop

Secret LAN

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Mission Management
Mission Management System 1 (MMS1) Located at the SO station Designated as the SECRET msn computer SENTRY / TORCH software is on MMS1 Operator can control the VGA MX-15i ARC-231 PRC-117G MMS1 PacWind C-MIGITS realignment mIRC chat HPW email DVR Video

SECRET LAN

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Mission Management
Mission Management System 2 (MMS2) Identical hardware to MMS1 Designated as the unclassified system Controls Rover modem and receiver configuration Encodes MX-15 video for satellite transmission
KuSS ROUTER

VGA

MMS2

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Sentry/Torch Operations
Used for mission execution, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, and battlefield management Multiple moving map displays Auto slew to coordinates, FalconView points, or real-time Cursor-on-Target position Tracks aircraft and Sensors Point-of-Interest in real-time Software control of AUX 1-4 (PRC-117 and ARC-231) radios and sensor Real-time Height Above Target and Target Elevation with Digital Terrain Elevation Data

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Sentry/Torch Software

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Data Dissemination
MMS1 KuSS Pennant Race

CRYPTO

CRYPTO

Encoder

Pacwind AUX 1 & 2 (ARC-231) AUX 4 & 5 (PRC-117) Mission Management System 2

Rover

Rover
The MC-12 is equipped with Rover 4 capability Short range, UNENCRYPTED, LOS data link Transmits FMV to ground and/or air assets Provides customer Situational awareness Targeting / Objective solutions Battle Damage Assessment Surveillance Convoy Escort Eyes in the sky Shortens talk-on-target for time-critical operations

PacWind
Data link system for Audio Full Motion Video (FMV) File transfer communications Transmits and receives encrypted video over S-band Requires S150 encoder and decoder 100NM LOS at 10,000 ft

Pennant Race

Pennant Race (PR) is a remote controlled audio SIGINT system and is classified above this brief.

KuSS
Wideband satellite communication suite Installed on Aircraft 8 and beyond
Replaces INMARSAT

Transmits at approximately 512 Kbps

Planned upgrade to 1 Mbps with VIASAT software

BLOS pipeline for Pennant Race, snapshot photos, email, data and internet / chat

Questions?

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