Joint STARS The Warfighter's Window to the Battlefield
by Lieutenant Colonel Kevin C. Peterson and Major
Phillip G. Basinger
Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) System Manager (TSM) is the
Army Proponent for the Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar
System (Joint STARS) Ground Station Module (GSM), which will evolve
into the Common Ground Station (CGS), and the Commander's Tactical
Terminal (CTT) which will become the Joint Tactical Terminal. This
article provides an overview of the systems and their current
status.
Joint STARS
Joint STARS is an Army-Air Force system designed to provide
near-real-time surveillance intelligence, targeting, and battle
management to the land component commander. The system is made to
support a corps-size unit. Joint STARS consists of the Air
Force-owned E-8 aircraft, a modified Boeing 707 manned by an Air
Force and Army aircrew, and what we like to call the "business end
of the system," the Ground Station Module (GSM), operated by the
Army. The E-8, using its chin-mounted multimode radar, collects
moving target indicators (MTIs), fixed target indicators (FTIs) ,
and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery and downlinks this to
the GSM. GSMs not in the footprint of the aircraft datalink can
have another GSM relay the data through a satellite at a reduced
data rate using the built-in satellite communications radio.
Once fielded to military intelligence (MI), aviation, and
artillery units, the GSM will be the most numerous MI end-item in
the Army, located from maneuver brigade up through echelons above
corps (EAC). Current fielding plans call for each division to have
six GSMs; corps will have seven GSMs (this includes the Armored
Cavalry Regiments), and each EAC MI Brigade will have two. The
total planned buy is 20 Air Force aircraft, 95 GSMs for the Army,
and 2 GSMs for the Marine Corps.
Currently, three different versions of the GSM (see Figures 1
and 2 for their capabilities and differences) have been fielded.
Figure 1.
Figure 2
The Joint STARS Common Ground Station (CGS) is a Preplanned Product
Improvement of the Block One Light GSM. The system will have
expanded interfaces with other systems such as aviation, unmanned
aerial vehicles (UAVs) and signals intelligence feeds through the
Commander's Tactical Terminal (CTT). In addition to the expanded
interfaces, the system will be able to receive secondary imagery
from tactical, theater, and national systems. Although originally
scheduled to begin fielding at the turn of the century, CGS has
been selected as a candidate system for acquisition streamlining.
The first CGS may roll off the production line as soon as the
second quarter of fiscal year 1998 (2 QTR FY 98).
Operation JOINT ENDEAVOR
A composite Joint STARS team recently returned home in April
after nearly a 4-month deployment to Europe in support of Operation
JOINT ENDEAVOR. The team consisted of members and equipment from
the 303d MI Battalion, Fort Hood, Texas; the 319th MI Battalion,
Fort Bragg, North Carolina; the Developmental Test and Training
Detachment, 111th MI Brigade, Melbourne, Florida; and the Program
Manager (PM) and TSM offices for Joint STARS . General Joulwan
(Supreme Allied Commander, Europe) called the Joint STARS system
forward to support the International Force (IFOR)'s deployment into
Bosnia. Army members met with their Air Force counterparts to form
the 4500th Joint STARS Squadron (Provisional) at Rhein Main Air
Base, Germany. With two of the required five aircraft needed to
provide 24-hour coverage, the E-8s flew 89 sorties, including 50
consecutively, breaking the DESERT STORM record of 49 in a row.
Of a total of 12 GSMs deployed, 7 were positioned in Italy,
Hungary, and Germany, and 5 were within Bosnia itself: 3 were with
the 1st Armored Division, and 1 each with the British and French
Divisions. The system's employment was primarily in the force
protection and peace-treaty-compliance modes, but it supported
other missions such as observing mass grave sites for evidence of
corpse removal or tampering. The system' deployment to Europe
forced a cancellation of the extensive Multi-Service Operational
Test and Evaluation (MOT&E) planned during the same timeframe.
However, Joint STARS met many of the test objectives while
supporting JOINT ENDEAVOR, and test personnel and data collectors
accompanied the operational personnel on the deployment to verify
performance.
93d Air Control Wing Activated
While the 4500th Joint STARS Squadron (Provisional) was providing
near-real-time intelligence to the IFOR, the 93d Air Control Wing
activated at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, on 29 January 1996.
The Wing is an integrated organization consisting of personnel from
the Air Force and the Army. The unit will "ramp up" over eight
years increasing in size from 300 personnel in 1996 to an end
strength of 2,700 by the year 2004.
During operations, the Joint STARS Army aircrew (three per
flight crew) will provide the critical conduit and interface with
all deployed GSMs. The aircrew members and staff are assigned to
the 297th Operation Battalion of the 513th MI Brigade. An Army
officer will fill the Wing's Deputy Operation Group Command
position. That officer will present Army issues and ensure that
mission support to GSM is considered during training, exercises,
and deployments.
The Wing's initial operational capability date is 2QTR FY 97
after which the system will deploy to support exercises throughout
the world. Part of the Joint STARS team will soon be two officers
from the Aviation and Artillery Branches. The Army crew with this
augmentation will better meet the targeting and situational
awareness needs of multiple commanders simultaneously, and do it in
a focused manner. Aviation and artillery officers assigned to the
Wing will ensure Joint STARS remains forward on support to ground
units, while demonstrating the Army's commitment to this vital
program.
Commander's Tactical Terminal
Configured as a stand-alone system or as a line replaceable
unit, the CTT has been integrated into many new aviation, air
defense artillery, fire support, and intelligence systems,
including the Joint STARS Medium and Light GSMs (MGSM, LGSM).
Depending on the version, the CTT accesses (transmit and receive)
four broadcast intelligence networks operating at the national or
theater level.
Tactical Reconnaissance Intelligence Exchange System (TRIXS)
Network. The TRIXS is a line-of-sight (LOS), interactive
(transmit-receive), ultrahigh frequency (UHF) network which
supports up to five airborne relays and producers:
- Current producers are the Army's Guardrail Common Sensor (GRCS)
on board the RC-12 aircraft, and the Air Force Contingency Airborne
Reconnaissance System (CARS) on board the U-2.
- Two other producers will be operational in the near term, the
Army's Airborne Reconnaissance Low (ARL) on the D-7 aircraft in
1996, and Navy's Storyteller (E-8) in 1997.
- The fifth source has not been determined, but could be Joint
STARS, UAV, or another airborne system.
TRIXS transmits messages in near-real-time to up to 250 addressees.
The TRIXS operates at the SECRET and sensitive compartmented
intelligence (SCI) levels.
Tactical Information Broadcast Service (TIBS). The TIBS is a
theater UHF LOS or satellite-interactive network. The TIBS can
support up to 10 producers, 50 query nodes, and an unlimited number
of receive-only users. The TIBS operates at the SECRET collateral
level.
Tactical Receive Equipment (TRAP) Data Distribution System
(TDDS), and Tactical Data Information Exchange System-Broadcast
(TADIXS-B). The TDDS and TADIXS-B are global UHF satellite
broadcasts which can serve an unlimited number of receive-only
users. They currently operate at the SECRET level.
There are three CTT configurations. The CTT-1 is a stand-alone,
single-channel transmitter and receiver (full duplex data and
half-duplex voice) system which operates either SCI or SECRET
collateral in the TRIXS network only. Currently, U.S. Army, Europe,
has fielded 7 CTT-1 systems and U.S. Forces Command has 16 CTT-1s.
A component part of a larger system, the CTT-2 is a two-channel
receive-only system which can receive any two of the four broadcast
networks simultaneously. More than 180 CTT-2s have been fielded to
Air Force and Army units. This is the system currently integrated
into the LGSMs and MGSMs.
The CTT-3 is a three-channel full duplex transmitter and
receiver. It can receive three broadcast intelligence networks
simultaneously and adds the capability to transmit and receive
secondary imagery. Delivery of the first seven systems will be in
June 1996; three of them will be installed in MGSMs in Korea. Total
production of the CTT-3 will be 86 CTT-3 transmitter-receivers,
with 37 going to the Army, 26 to the Marine Corps, and 16 to the
Navy.
The four separate intelligence broadcast networks will
eventually combine into a single Integrated Broadcast Service with
a single data format (Tactical Digital Information Link -J), and a
common family of terminals for the four Services, the Joint
Tactical Terminal (JTT). The JTT will eventually replace all the
CTTs.
Lieutenant Colonel Kevin Peterson was commissioned in the
Army upon graduation from the University of Iowa in 1975. After
completing Field Artillery Basic Course, he served as a
Reconnaissance and Survey Officer and Fire Direction Officer with
the 1/6th Field Artillery Battalion, XVIII Airborne Corps
Artillery. He Has held command and staff assignments in both
aviation and Iintelligence units, including Imagery Interpretation
Platoon Leader, 218th Military Intelligence Detachment (Airborne);
S2 and flight Platoon Leader, 82d Aviation Battalion;
Reconnaissance Platoon Leader and Company Executive Officer, 73d
Combat Intelligence Company, Adjutant and Commander, Headquarters,
Headquarters and Service Company, 2d Military Intelligence
Battalion (Aerial Exploitation): Concepts Branch Chief and Concepts
and Studies Division Chief, Directorate of Combat Developments,
United States Army Intelligence Center; Executive Officer and
Operations S3 Officer 1st Military Intelligence Battalion (Aerial
Exploitation); Director of Logistics, USAIC&FH, Commander 304 MI Bn
and TSM-Joint STARS. He holds a master's degree in Administration
from Central Michigan University and is a graduate of the Military
Intelligence Advanced Course and the Army Command and General Staff
College. Readers can reach the authors at (520) 533-5301/5201 and
DSN 821-5301/5201. You can reach Lieutenant Colonel Peterson via
E-mail/PROFS at petersok%hua1@leav-emh.army.mil.
Major Phil Basinger is currently the Deputy TSM Joint STARS.
He has a BA in History from the University of Central Arkansas and
a MA in International Relations from University of Southern
California. Previous assignments include Brigade Executive Officer,
Battalion Executive Officer, and Battalion S3. He recently served
as Chief Joint STARS Liaison at the Combined Air Operations Center,
Vicenza, Italy, during Joint STARS deployment to Europe for
Operation JOINT ENDEAVOR. Major Basinger's E-mail/PROFS address is
basingep%hua1@leav-emh.army.mil.