Contingency Landing System initiative offers portability for airbase opening forces

Published Sept. 12, 2008
By Tech. Sgt. Scott T. Sturkol
U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center Public Affairs

FORT DIX, N.J. -- The Air Mobility Battlelab, or AMB, recently joined forces with the Air Force's Electronic Systems Center to show Air Mobility Command how cutting edge aircraft approach and landing technology can shrink the footprint of the airbase opening forces.

"Many austere airfields don't have the necessary equipment to enable aircraft to land in bad weather," said Master Sgt. Eric Allain, project manager for the battlelab's Contingency Landing System initiative, "so Air Force Contingency Response Groups have to take instrument approach ground stations with them when they're establishing a new base. Our current deployable landing systems are bulky, however, and require extensive time and manpower to set up. That's where we came in to help - to find something that is easier to move and set up in the deployed environment."

The initiative called for a lot of teamwork, Sergeant Allain said. The AMB worked with Air Mobility Command's Airspace and Airfield Operations Directorate, or AMC/A3A, as well as the Air Force Flight Standards Agency, Air Force Research Laboratory, other Department of Defense agencies and industry to see if current technology could provide a more deployment-friendly contingency landing system, or CLS, that would meet AMC's requirements.

"Our solution had to be a CLS that could bridge the gap between current precision landing systems and a future, fully-automated, on-board autonomous landing capability for our military aircraft," Sergeant Allain said. "This system had to be able to be easily deployed to austere airfields and meet contingency response group performance requirements."

The goal for the initiative was to find a system that was "man-portable" and could be set up by two people, Sergeant Allain said. The Department of Defense does plan to eventually field a man-portable version of the Joint Precision Approach and Landing System, or JPALS, that it is developing for all the services, but fielding of a "Man-Pack" JPALS capability is many years away. So the battlelab, in an effort to see what could be fielded today, sent out requests for proposal to civilian industry seeking to lease hardware for a concept demonstration. No existing commercial-based systems were found that met AMC's requirements, however.

Enter the 641st Electronic Systems Squadron from the Electronic Systems Center, or ESC, at Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass. "While conducting our research, we learned the ESC's 641st had used JPALS hardware to construct a man-portable technology demonstrator to prove the feasibility of a backpack-sized CLS," Sergeant Allain said. "Their demonstrator showed potential to meet most of AMC's needs today and, in a short time, we coordinated with the 641st to conduct a concept demonstration for Air Mobility Command leadership."

The demonstration system continually measures the errors inherent in Global Positioning System, or GPS, navigation systems, and automatically broadcasts this information to aircraft flying in the area so these errors can be eliminated. The result is a navigation system capable of supporting 'Category 1' precision approaches when the cloud ceiling is as low as 200 feet above the runway and visibility is as low as one-half mile.

"The amazing thing about the system, though, is its size," Sergeant Allain said. "All ground station components, with the exception of a portable generator and a small datalink radio, fit into two small backpacks.

The demonstration took place in July on Duke Field at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., using the 641st's JPALS Man-Pack CLS Demonstration System and a specially instrumented Air Force C 21 aircraft. The objectives of the demonstration included assessing the physical size of the system and its ability to meet Contingency Response Group operational requirements, including a setup time of two hours or less using only two people.

"The results were very positive," Sergeant Allain said. "The system met both physical and operational requirements, and two Airmen from the 641st were able to set it up in less than 30 minutes."

A small pallet of special electronic equipment was installed on the C 21 aircraft for the demonstration, but this requirement will be eliminated once Air Force aircraft are equipped with JPALS equipment in the future as planned. The Air Force could also create an interim capability if desired by constructing portable JPALS receivers that could be moved from aircraft to aircraft as mission requirements dictate.

The AMB's conclusion is the JPALS system "met or exceeded" the performance, set up and size objectives of the demonstration.

"Another great feature of the JPALS technology is that, unlike current systems that can only support landings in one direction on one runway, this system can provide up to 48 customized approaches to multiple runways at multiple airfields, as well as helipads and drop zones, within a five-to 10-mile radius of the ground station," Sergeant Allain said.

In recommending the system for "expedited development and fielding," Lt. Col. Jeffrey Lathrop, Air Mobility Battlelab commander, said the system has a lot of potential.

"We've recommended that AMC/A3A work with the ESC and the U.S. Navy, the current lead service for JPALS, to advocate for expedited fielding of a man-portable JPALS capability because it can do so much for the warfighter," Colonel Lathrop said. "We've also recommended AMC look at the cost and fuel savings of implementing JPALS at stateside AMC bases. Approach and landing corridors could be optimized for the fuel savings, and one system could replace the multiple precision approaches now servicing all of the runways at a particular base. This could result in significant cost savings to the Air Force on precision approach maintenance."

The Air Mobility Battlelab was established in 2001 to identify and demonstrate the utility of innovative concepts with potential to enhance Mobility Air Force capabilities. The AMB deactivates Sept. 24 as part of an Air Force cost-savings initiative.