Building on Beersheba

Future Capability Discussion Paper Three: Land Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance System

Strategic Plans Branch Army Headquarters 2014

Future Capability Discussion Paper Three: Land Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance System

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Executive Summary

Although the range of joint force collection capabilities is expansive, there are opportunities to develop Army’s intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capability. The sensor bias towards air platforms, due to area coverage and response time advantages, must be balanced with additional investment in land and littoral sensor systems. Intelligence staff, electronic warfare and full spectrum exploitation capabilities are needed to provide the access, persistence, effective management and tactical priority that cannot be guaranteed by joint systems. An intelligence workforce increase will enable Army to meet its growing operational and strategic demands. Intelligence information storage, processing, analysis and dissemination systems will profit from remediation and integration within a national data processing / analysis framework. An enterprise wide search capability, across the classification spectrum, is essential to meet tactical command requirements. Enabled by digital network information accessibility, additional secret and top secret systems will be essential for information management and analysis within the land and littoral domains.

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Background

1. Defence intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance development has been primarily collection focussed, through platform and sensor acquisition, increasing Defence’s information access potential. Fifteen years of operational and exercise experience highlights a need to improve information management and analysis capabilities to provide balance and provenance to command decision making. With increased intelligence information requirements and source data volumes, advanced analytical tools will assist search and analysis automation. An increase to the intelligence workforce is needed to manage and analyse the increasing volumes of information available. Timely command decision support information will be enabled through continued investment in systems that provide the persistence, access and priority of tasking across a range of land and overland targets.

Strategic Environment

2. The Future Land Warfare Report 2014 outlines that the nature of military interventions and operations has become inherently unpredictable since the end of the Cold War. Contemporary operations have placed heavy demands on the Army and posed new questions concerning future employment, equipment and doctrine. Continuous investment to improve Army capabilities is needed posture Army to achieve its core Defence White Paper tasks in an uncertain environment.

3. The regional and global outlook suggests that land forces will continue to play a decisive role in the security of modern states against all adversaries. The five specific but inter-linked meta-trends (crowded, connected, constrained, collective and lethal) that define the operating environment out to 2035 will influence force design and technological solutions.

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Core Requirements

4. A future connected and congested battlespace will require a systematic land force approach to assure land intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance outcomes. An integrated system will:

a. Collect data from a wide range of sources and agency collection capabilities. Collection assets must be a mix of persistent, attributable and timely capabilities. Sensors should be hosted on dedicated or opportunity manned and unmanned platforms.

b. Efficiently and effectively pass information and/or intelligence through common or interoperable data links and systems.

c. Manage large volumes of structured and unstructured data held on multiple domains.

d. Generate appropriate intelligence employing a well trained workforce with common multi-source advanced analysis tools.

e. Disseminate intelligence assessment to commanders to enable decision advantage and enhance lethality.

5. Land intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance system requirements are:

a. Interoperability. The intelligence and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems, more than any other, are reliant on alliance and interagency cooperation. Therefore, interagency intelligence information exchange agreements are critical. Enterprise interoperability, with systems, sensors and platforms, remains a priority selection criterion for components of the land intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance system.

b. Workforce. Army requires a balanced, enabled intelligence workforce to meet command decision making requirements of the future. Army will continue to remediate rank and trade structure imbalances, and seek to grow its intelligence workforce baseline to meet future intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance demands.

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c. Platforms.

i) Unmanned systems, in all physical domains, provide increased collection capacity to joint force. Army will continue to acquire tactical unmanned aerial systems and unmanned ground systems to enhance its collection capabilities to reduce personnel exposure risks. Army will support the development of Australian Defence Force unmanned system policies, as a priority, to address intelligence information transmission, storage, processing and analyses requirements.

ii) Land combat vehicle system and wheeled vehicle replacement projects will present opportunity based land intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance system contributions by hosting sensors and communications systems. This will complement dedicated platforms such as the Tiger helicopter and Shadow unmanned aerial vehicle. A commander’s information requirements in close combat require protected and mobile surveillance and reconnaissance sensor platforms. These platforms will also contribute to force level collection efforts and link tactical systems and strategic networks.

d. Sensors.

i) Advanced sensor technologies resident within Air Force (hosted on Growler, Wedgetail, Poseidon and Triton platforms) have the potential to provide significant capability to land forces. Army networking and operational approaches must adapt to the enhanced capacity these capabilities provide. This will demand the ability to send and receive large volumes of real-time or near real-time intelligence information is available to the meet the land force commander’s decision support requirements.

ii) Land electronic warfare systems provide immediate threat warning and information to the tactical commander, contributing to force protection and land fire-support system, as well as providing capabilities not always assured from non-surface sensors. Continued capability enhancements to land electronic warfare capabilities will ensure Army remains adaptive within a rapidly evolving technology domain.

iii) Counter rocket and mortar sensors, acquired on operations, will be integrated with the land intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and land engagement systems through the joint land digital network. These

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capabilities contribute to force protection, development of joint situational awareness pictures and counter-air capabilities.pictures and counter-air capabilities.

iv) Army seeks to consolidate its full spectrum exploitation capability that includes weapons intelligence teams, human identification through biological and biometric profiling, interrogation, document, material and cellular exploitation systems. A consolidation of these capabilities will enable improved land force environmental understanding.

v) A range of electro-optical, radar and unattended sensors are required throughout the land force to support tactical (combat team) situational awareness, threat warnings and targeting information. Although limited in a contribution to the wider Australian Defence Force intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance architecture, Army will continue to upgrade its optical, radar and senor systems; whereby a tactical commander’s ability to generate timely threat warnings within their immediate area of operations will be enabled.

e. Information Exchange. Through integrated, networked and adaptive capability acquisitions, Army will continue to improve its information exchange capabilities across the land domain, whilst improving its connectivity within the joint/coalition environment, where feasible. Information exchange capabilities between sensors, discrete battle management systems and at selected points of exchange (Battlegroup/Brigade/Task Force Headquarters) remain a priority remediation focus.

f. Assurance. A commander’s trust in the land intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance system is affected by the veracity and validity of the system’s information. Army will continue to pursue improvements in information protection, analysis and dissemination to assure provenance and information integrity is preserved.

g. Information Analysis and Management. The land intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance system requires information management and advanced analytical tools to allow understanding of the battlespace and to establish decision support information. Army seeks to enhance its information management and analysis capabilities, compatible with Air Force and Navy, whilst supporting the development of an Australian Defence Force intelligence and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance backbone.

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Opportunities

6. Autonomy. By 2035, the Australian Defence Force will continue its employment of unmanned systems within a semi-autonomous capacity. Army will support continuous research and development of improved unmanned systems technology and seek to automate intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance functions where practical, prudent and sustainable. This will increase collection, information management and analysis options for the tactical commander, and offers significant potential to enhance operational and strategic endeavours.

7. Non-platform remediation. Within a cost conscious environment, Army will support or inform rationalisation and remediation efforts to the following non-platform functions:

a. Remediation of land tactical intelligence capabilities including bespoke ADF tactical expeditionary Human Intelligence, Psychological Operations and Exploitation capabilities.

b. Sufficient Intelligence staff dedicated to the management and analysis of Army, Joint, and Coalition intelligence and ISR capabilities.

c. Enterprise intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance information management systems.

d Enterprise common advanced analytic tools and systems.

e Capability assurance programs for land intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance sensor systems.

f. Multi-use options of software defined radio systems.

Conclusion

8. In a holistic defence system, the land intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance system is critical in providing commanders with timely and relevant intelligence in order to provide a decision making advantage. Army will continue to adapt and evolve with emerging technologies, make best use of its current resources and seek to assure the tactical commanders decision advantage through an integrated intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance system. This will ensure our most precious resource, the soldier, is protected and employed for best effect within the joint and coalition environments.