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Expendable Active Battle Damage Assessment Sensors
Title: Senior Engineer
Phone: (703) 836-1717
Email: hfrosch@sensci.com
Title: COO
Phone: (703) 836-1717
Email: max@sensci.com
The Sensci Battle Damage Reporting System (BDRS) is a small compactmodule designed to be transported with the weapon whose results itreports. This will be the Tomahawk Land Attack Missile (TLAM). It willprovide an unprecedented capability to the commander to know withconfidence the effect of his strike mission. Housed in a small cylinderare a parachute, battery, sensor suite, sensor processor, transmitterand antenna. These are deployed as the TLAM begins its final attack.After ejection, the parachute holds the sensor suite aloft long enoughto make before--and--after observations of the target area. These areanalyzed by the sensor processor, and the results are transmitted to asatellite, and thence to the commander. Once the BDRS lands, itcontinues to report, thus providing additional intelligence. Futuregrowth to a powered system to replace the parachute is described.The multi-sensor suite is selected to be synergetic, with the strengthof one sensor complementing the weakness of another. This will ensuremaximum performance in a small expendable package. The BDRS designdescribed here will support the TLAM, but can be modified to serve anumber of other military weapons systems. There is a critical requirement for battle damage assessment for allbranches of the military services.Bomb Damage Assessment Bomb damage assessment (BDA) determines whether or not theobjective of a strike mission has been met. This is undertaken not merely to satisfy a commander's curiosityabout what damage has been inflicted upon an enemy. The informationcollected through a successful BDA effort provides a military commandernot only with a critical measure of the effectiveness of his or herforces, but it is also required for the commander to decide whether ornot it is necessary to strike a target a second time. If a restrike isnot needed, forces avoid unnecessary risks and a military commandermakes the most efficient use of assets. There are a variety of technologies that promise better ways ofperforming BDA. Some exist or will exist, in certain weapons thatprovide, in essence, instant BDA, by transmitting live pictures of thetargets they are striking, such as the future Tactical Tomahawk or theStand-off Land Attack Missile - Extended Range (SLAM-ER). Other imagerythat is useful for performing BDA is video imagery provided duringlaser-guided bomb engagements. Another technology that offers the promise of improved BDA isthe unmanned air vehicle (UAV). Work remains before it is decisivelyproven that such craft can effectively shoulder the BDA mission. It doesnot seem likely that a UAV will be capable of accompanying a Tomahawkmission, so it probably is moot for our purposes. Until then, the bulkof BDA will still be performed by manned reconnaissance systems for theforeseeable future. There are three general classes of targets that require timelyand assured BDA. First are targets associated with weapons of massdestruction whose destruction must be guaranteed. Second are high-valuetargets whose destruction must clearly be accounted for before movinginto an operation's next stages. Third, there are select targets ofspecial military, diplomatic or media interest to the National CommandAuthority.
* Information listed above is at the time of submission. *