Ground forces still want manned surveillance aircraft, general says.

• Author: Magnuson, Stew
• Position: Battlefield Intelligence

* While the U.S. military during the last eight years has become enamored of remotely piloted aircraft, the Air Force is rapidly fielding a new manned twin-propeller airplane to monitor battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"What we've been told is, 'I don't want all unmanned systems,'" said Maj. Gen. Bradley A. Heithold, commander of the Air Force intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance agency. "There is something special, if you will, about a manned ISR platform."

The Air Force, under the recommendation of the an ISR task force established by Defense Secretary Robert Gates, began developing the MC-12W Liberty aircraft in May 2008. Thirteen months later, the aircraft flew its first sortie out of Joint Base Balad, Iraq, according to an Air Force statement.

Heithold, who had previously served on AC-130 gunships, said there are strong bonds between those fighting on the ground and the crews in the air supporting them.

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"Because you're not going to leave those people on the ground until you are out of fuel or out of bullets," he said at the Geo-Int conference in San Antonio, Texas.

The Liberty, while not armed like an AC-130, has a four-man crew. In order to rapidly field the platform, the Air Force procured secondhand Beech C-12 turboprop aircraft and outfitted them with full-motion video and signals-intelligence gathering equipment, said a Globalsecurity.org factsheet on the program. They include an L-3 manufactured Wescam MX-15 sensor payload with day/night cameras, high- and low-resolution video and a laser rangefinder and illuminators. The aircraft will also carry a classified signal-intelligence, or eavesdropping, payload.

Kevin Meiners, acting deputy undersecretary of defense for portfolio...