Controlling Iraq's crowded airspace no easy task.

• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.
• Position: UP FRONT

An untidy web of unmanned drones and helicopters hovering over combat zones in Iraq has created dangerous flying conditions, prompting the Army to create a specialized cadre of air-traffic controllers whose job is to prevent collisions between friendly aircraft.

"As we proliferate more UAVs, the de-confliction of manned and unmanned vehicles is a challenge," says Brig. Gen. E.J. Sinclair, commander of the U.S. Army Aviation Center.

The Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps operate than 1,000 UAVs and countless helicopters in Iraq. Most fly at low altitudes, below 3,000 feet, noted Lt. Gen. Walter Buchanan, commander of the 9th Air Force and Central Command Air Forces. "That is a very thick environment," he told reporters. "We in fact have had occasions where they have run into a helicopter. Thankfully, to my knowledge, we have not hurt anybody yet."

The Air Force traditionally has the airspace management expertise, but the job mostly involved aircraft flying above 10,000 to 15,000 feet. The Army decided it needed to develop its own skills because its aircraft typically fly at much lower altitudes than Air Force jets, and often need to interact with troops engaged in combat. "You might have missiles flying, UAVs, communications relay systems, intelligence systems, all in the same airspace, staring at the same area on the ground," says Brig. Gen. Robert P. Lennox, commander of the U.S. Army Air Defense Artillery Center.

To coordinate the traffic of low-altitude aircraft, Army is fielding six-person units, which are assigned to brigade command posts across Iraq. Their job is to "synchronize the airspace," Lennox tells National Defense.

Controlling the use of the airspace can be difficult particularly in congested areas where U.S. troops may be searching for insurgents or weapons caches. "Everyone wants to look at the same piece of ground," Lennox says. "We are arming our commanders with hundreds of UAVs," he says. "How do they know how to manage the airspace, tell friendly from enemy UAVs?"

The Air Defense Artillery Center has begun deploying "airspace management cells," made up of both aviators and air-defense specialists, Lennox says. "They are designed to go into our maneuver brigades and provide them situational awareness of what's going on overhead."

The cell also coordinates air-traffic data with Air Force operators aboard AWACS radar planes. The primary source of information on what aviation assets are flying in the area is the Army's...