Posts Tagged ‘GAWS’
Forces Focus – USAF Special Tactics
Sunday, March 3rd, 2013USAF Selects Storm SRTV as GAARV
Saturday, January 19th, 2013In an award announced 17 January, 2013, the US Air Force has selected the HDT Storm SRTV as the Guardian Angel Air-Deployable Rescue Vehicle. As you may recall, the GAARV is an airdroppable, all terrain vehicle designed to transport Guardian Angel Weapon System members which consists of the Combat Rescue Officer (CRO), Pararescue (PJ), and SERE careerfields and their patients/survivors out of bad guy territory. As PJs are the guys who generally do this for a living, it will be for their use.
It’s good to see that the Storm SRTV won considering they have been chasing this requirement from the beginning. Since we first wrote about this BC Customs design, HDT purchased the rights and saw it through to the win.
Unfortunately, I don’t have a photo yet of the exact model that won but this is a photo of a Storm variant and looking back at the earlier BC Customs photos should give you a good idea of how this went.
Black Diamond Advanced Technology Delivers MTS to ANG and AFRC
Monday, October 15th, 2012Earlier this year the US Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) selected the Black Diamond Advanced Technology Modular Tactical System (MTS) as their next-generation Operator Control System (OCS). Used by Special Operations Forces and Joint Terminal Attack Controllers, the Battlefield Air Operations (BAO) OCS is a wearable solution, incorporating a tactical vest with power management and a rugged computing device, designed for dismounted Close Air Support operations and communications control.
Bow, they have completed delivery of 92 MTS kits to several units within the United States Air National Guard (ANG) and Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC). Additionally, Black Diamond is now training end-users on the proper operation and employment of the MTS.
The MTS units will be used by Tactical Air Control Party (TACP) personnel within select ANG Air Support Operations Squadrons (ASOS), and Guardian Angel Combat Rescue Officer Team Commanders (CROTCs) and Pararescue Team Leaders (PJTLs) within the 10th AFRC.
TACP personnel within 13 different ANG ASOS elements make up an elite combat force whose mission is to provide airspace deconfliction and close air support for ground troops. TACPs will receive training on using the MTS in a dismounted role to digitally aid their mission of precision terminal attack guidance including targeting, communications management, and other command and control functions.
The 10th Air Force houses the Combat Air Forces components of AFRC. CROTCs and PJTLs at a number of these installations will receive equipment and training from Black Diamond Advanced Technology, enabling them to aid their vital personnel recovery mission and provide emergency medical care and evacuation in combat and humanitarian operations.
Black Diamond Advanced Technology specializes in wearable computer and communications systems that treat the warfighter as a system, allowing foot-mobile operation while carrying less weight and providing unobstructed access to ammunition, hydration and other mission-critical equipment. The MTS is primarily used by SOF personnel for a variety of missions including Precision Targeting, C4ISR, SA, EOD and UAS/UGV control. MTS has been fielded in support of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) since 2010.
The MTS will be on display at the ANG/AFRC Weapons and Tactics (WEPTAC) Conference in Tucson, AZ, Oct 22-23. Units who are not part of this fielding can source MTS through www.ADSinc.com.
Guardian Angel Air-Deployable Rescue Vehicle Pre-Solicitation Released (Again)
Thursday, February 16th, 2012About once a year, for the past few years the Air Force’s Battlefield Airman Branch of the Aeronautical Systems Center at Wright-Patterson AFB releases a new requirement for a battlefield truck for their Guardian Angel Weapon System. GAWS is made up of the Combat Rescue Officer (CRO), Pararescue (PJ), and SERE careerfields. Obviously, the vehicle would mainly be used by the PJs. Unfortunately, they’ve never actually purchased any vehicles. In fact, we’ve even written about one of the candidate vehicles from past attempts; the SRTV.
This year is no different and a pre-solicitation for the Guardian Angel Air-Deployable Rescue Vehicle (GAARV) was released last week. They’ve included a System Requirements Document (SRD) that spells out the vehicle characteristics they are looking for. According to this document, PJs currently rely on ATVs to aid in the recovery of Isolated Personnel who may be injured. Unfortunately, these have limited speed, agility, range and payload.
The proposed GAARV will be airdroppable from fixed wing aircraft and be able to carry medical, rescue, and survival equipment to an incident site and be able to exfiltrate the rescue team and isolated personnel over adverse terrain. It is envisioned that these same capabilities will make it a shoe in for use in disaster recovery and other humanitarian relief operations.
Specifically they want a vehicle that can be airdropped, features a comms and datalink package, integrates M240 and M249 for defense, capable of on and off-road operation and a minimum payload of 4000 lbs. It must also have mounts compatible with Stokes, Talon, Israeli, and NATO Pole litters. Obviously, as a rescue vehicle, it’s going to need external power outlets, an air compressor and a winch. Additionally, it must be able to travel 350 miles at 45 mph and then loiter for 2 hours once on the objective. Interestingly, there’s no mention of exfil meaning it’s got a 175 mile range.
There are also a couple of other “interesting” requirements such as:
“The GAARV shall be steerable and stoppable by at least one RT member other than the driver”
“The GAARV engine shall run using standard gasoline, 87 Octane or higher, diesel, or JP-8″
“The GAARV fuel tank shall not require a purge prior to adding a different type of fuel than is already in use”
Something you may feel is missing is an armor requirement. They haven’t quite worked out those requirements yet and understandably so. I used to be in the armored vehicle business and armor is anathema to the offroad agility capabilities required by GAWS.
Interested parties have until March 6 to tell the Air Force about their capabilities. Unfortunately, that leaves little time for the Air Force to integrate any ground breaking capabilities discovered in this pre-solicitation into their actual solicitation planned for release on 16 March.
The Air Force has done a lot to upgrade other rescue capabilities, hopefully this year, we’ll see them buy a new truck.
