Why SSC?
Greatest operational peacetime challenge to any unit
Calls for small footprint
Demonstrated shortfalls in several theaters
NEOs
- Liberia, CAR, Congo, Albania
HUMROs
- Rwanda, Burundi, Congo, Zaire
Notes:
One of the greatest challenges to the start of this initiative was the determining the military utility of TUAVs in support of small scale contingencies. However, the need for TUAVs became quite evident after receiving inputs from EUCOM, studying afteraction reports of U.S. involvement in peace keeping and peace making operations.
We formed an initial team with LtCol Janice Morrow, AFSOC, and MSgt Tim Wilkinson, 720 STG, myself and two other UAV Battlelab managers. The proposal received approval and funding for this initiative from HQ ACC in late 1998. Since then we have convinced several agencies, including CINCUSACOM of the need for this capability, and received strong support from USSOCOM, JSOC, and 18 ABN Corp. All these were in addition to the previous support from EUCOM, as well as interest from other battlelabs and the UAV Joint Program Office.
SSC’s fully test the capability of any unit. Therefore we choose these two scenarios for the demonstration. We chose the Non-Combatant Evacuation based on lessons learned in Liberia, Central African Republic, Congo and Albania to Humanitarian Relief Operation scenarios in Rwanda Burundi, Uganda and Zaire.
These two scenarios form the basis for any future application of Tactical UAVs in support of special operations missions.