Joint Expeditionary Force Experiment increases UAS security

  • Published
  • By Harry J. Lundy
  • Air Combat Command Public Affairs
LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. (ACCNS) --  Afghan and Iraqi coalition forces are being challenged by terrorist groups that are downloading and viewing footage of coalition unmanned surveillance aircraft on the internet.

To address this problem, the Tactical Unbreakable Communications Air experiment was conducted at the Nevada Test and Training Range April 12-22 at Nellis AFB, Nev.

Keeping video feeds free from interception is the priority of Kenneth Gunter, air initiative manager for TUC Air.

"One of the immediate problems that TUC addresses is the ability to encrypt the video and the control feeds going in between small UASs and their ground control stations," Mr. Gunter said.

In December 2009, several news agencies reported that insurgents in Iraq were able to intercept live Predator feeds using $26 off-the-shelf software. This provided the capability to potentially provide information they needed to evade U.S. military operations.

Military forces were in need of a way to encrypt both control and video link communications that is small, lightweight and can operate with very low power requirements.

Finding a way to protect information and make the upgrade ready to use in existing vehicles was the goal of Capt. Joe Creed, the 2nd Fleet director of policy, plans and experimentation for the Global Cyberspace Integration Center at Langley Air Force Base, Va.

"With the encryption of these data streams, what I anticipate we'll be able to prove ... is anti-access to that data stream by malicious or nefarious state or non-state actors," Captain Creed said.

TUC Air uses a set of specialized tools that operate on a small computer chip in order to protect the video and control feeds from several small unmanned aircraft.

This technology is very small, lightweight and can be fielded rapidly to joint forces, preventing terrorists from intercepting coalition surveillance feeds.

GCIC, the lead agency for the Joint Expeditionary Force Experiment, conducted the test with participation from sister services, coalition nations, combatant commands and government agencies to identify and address gaps in warfighting capability.

According to Mr. Gunter, the TUC Air tests were successful on the RQ-11 Raven.