Gunship Sensors Optimized for Urban Warfare.

• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.

New sight targeting systems for Cobra, Apache, address fratricide concerns

Identifying ground targets at night never has been easy for helicopter pilots. Most night-vision sensor packages available on gunships today offer limited performance, which means that pilots must get close--within a few kilometers--to their targets in order to fire with accuracy.

Failure to do so could result in fratricide. More than a decade ago, a U.S. armored personnel carrier was struck by friendly fire from a U.S. Apache helicopter, during Operation Desert Shield, in the Persian Gulf.

But Pentagon planners now are focusing less attention on the problems of fighting in the desert, and directing their efforts to the challenges of urban warfare. In the foreseeable future, it is expected that the battles that U.S. troops will fight will be in urban environments, where civilians and military forces are not clearly separated, and where there are lots of corners for the enemy to hide. (related story, page 20)

The upshot, officials said, is growing difficulties for attack helicopter pilots operating at night.

The Marine Corps experienced these problems first-hand during an April 1999 deployment to Macedonia, in support of NATO'S air war over Kosovo. For that mission, the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) was equipped with four AH-1W Cobra attack helicopters and two UH-1N Huey utility choppers.

In Macedonia, those Marines saw the "urban nature of the operations we are involved in," said Navy Capt. Tom Curtis, program manager of Marine attack and utility helicopters. One lesson they learned, said Curtis, is that they "need better capabilities in precision targeting and positive target identification," in addition to speed and range.

Out of the last 253 Marine Corps deployments overseas, 238 involved "some sort of urban operation," Curtis said during a recent briefing to industry representatives.

The need for precision targeting capabilities is one of the driving forces behind a multi-billion dollar program to upgrade 180 Cobras and 100 Hueys during the next decade. These aircraft will be remanufactured and equipped with a new four-bladed rotor system, glass cockpits, new engines and gearboxes, among other upgrades. For Marine combat pilots, one of the most anticipated upgrades in the rebuilt Cobra--renamed the AH-1Z--is the nose-mounted target sight system, said Curtis.

The new target sight system is called Hawkeye, made by Lockheed Martin Missiles & Fire Control. The...