by Michael Puttré and Brendan Rivers
Jun. 1, 2001

 

The best thing that the Colonel could say about the Harbor was that it produced a steady supply of mullet. And the Colonel hated mullet. But even this virtue had faded away as the homeport fishing boats mysteriously vanished over the last week. A veritable plague of engine trouble seemed to spread like Dutch Elm Disease among the trawlers moored at the commercial pier. The malady would manifest itself at sea, requiring diversion to other ports. At first the Colonel thought enemy agents might have sabotaged the diesel fuel supply, but the battalion mechanics said it was fine. Then the remnants of the fleet used a minor summer squall as an excuse to run for shelter elsewhere. So the war was coming to his little backwater after all.

As with Nelson's frigates, rumor flashed across the sea throughout the region's fishing boats much faster than it filtered through official channels to the Colonel's command as intelligence. Not as refined, perhaps, and more often than not, the information was flat out wrong. But the overall sense that something was going to happen had motivated the Colonel to move Vermillion's garrison out of barracks and into its field positions. He had the crews fire up the diesels of the Leopard tanks under Barracuda netting every afternoon rather than once a week. He put the battery of Bal-E antiship missiles on the heights overlooking the Harbor on alert. The air-defense platoon, with its two self-propelled Thales Crotale SAM vehicles and a ZSU-23-4 Shilka mobile AAA system, would stay cold until the commander received expressed orders to go into action. The Colonel didn't want to unmask them for a UAV or decoy drone that would surely herald the arrival of the Cobalt Coalition invasion force. He wanted meat.

Nightfall

Two IAI-MALAT Heron unmanned aerial vehicles blaze off the launch rails mounted on the aft platform of the Cobalt frigate Cuchulainn (former US Perry-class) with the task force 150 kilometers off the Harbor. The frigate has sacrificed its complement of LAMPS helicopters for the purpose, and one of the two hanger facilities has been converted into a UAV control center. The large, pusher-engine, twin-boom craft shed their rocket packs and then bob and dip alarmingly in the turbulent air, clawing their way into the racing overcast. They fly towards the Vermillion positions on shore, scouting ahead of the task force that is making 20 knots.

Meanwhile, the Cobalt submarine Gilgamesh (modified former German Type 209-class) slips into the estuary through a trench that provides cover from Vermillion patrol craft, courtesy of bathymetry data collected six months ago. These have been combined with existing charts and satellite imagery using TENET Defence's HUGIN Chartlink littoral visualization software. It takes several hours to approach a pre-designated point off a lonely beach west of the Harbor. The submarine raises the mast that carries its Avitronics Shrike ESM receiver. The sub's ELINT system operators sweep 0.7 to 40 GHz. They are in the shadow of the coastal battery's X-band radar and detect scattered emissions around 10 GHz - not a threat. The only strong signals they receive are from an I-band radar operating at 26 revolutions per minute. The database classifies it as a Kelvin Hughes Type 1007 navigation radar. Direction finding places it in the vicinity of the diesel motor sounds that the sonar officer has identified as the Vermillion minesweeper Wrasse (former Italian Gaeta-class) patrolling the entrance to the Harbor. More worrying is the fast missile craft Crimson King (former Israeli Reshef-class) they were told to expect but haven't seen yet.

The Captain raises the periscope, equipped with a HF receiver for the EADS Telegon 12 direction-finding system in addition to the optics. There is nobody on the air, and a visual search shows that all is clear. The Captain shakes the hand of the wetsuited Special Forces Major, whose smile shines through his grease paint. The Special Forces reconnaissance platoon exits the submarine through airlocks. Some inflate balloons supporting watertight equipment canisters at neutral buoyancy that carry arms and special equipment for the work ahead. The submarine slips back out to sea as stealthily as it had arrived.

Cobalt's "Night Heron" flies low, its turret-mounted electro-optical sensors payload searching the beach for threats to Cobalt's main invasion force, which will arrive in a few hours. This vehicle also has a laser target designator in the same turret assembly that will come into play should the operators on Cuchulainn spot anything worth blowing up for the F/A-18s currently loitering at tanker. Its colleague, "Blue Heron," overflies the Harbor beach at higher altitude and begins a pre-programmed orbit over the area, its Northrop Grumman Tactical Endurance Synthetic Aperture Radar (TESAR) scanning for Vermillion forces. But in addition to reconnaissance, this UAV has another mission: to trick the enemy into revealing his position by turning on his radar to shoot it down so that it, too, can be eliminated by the strike package.

Despite the UAV's attempts at provoking the Crotale operators, none of them turn on their radars. Clearly, they've learned one of the main lessons from the Gulf War: Turn on your radar and you get shot. Unchallenged, Blue Heron continues its TESAR sweep over enemy territory. Not trying to hide, it continues transmitting its TESAR data to the Cuchulainn . Besides, the data being sent is automatically encrypted, so even if the Vermillion forces were able to intercept the message, without the proper encryption key, it will be nothing but an incomprehensible mish-mash of data bits. Should one of the missile sites move, though, that data will be received aboard the Cuchulainn to update the commander's tactical picture on a large color display.

Blue Heron drones over the missile-carrying trucks of the Bal-E battery, transmitting its resulting TESAR imagery back to the Cuchulainn . All of this data is transmitted through the L-3 Tactical Common Datalinks (TCDLs) fitted aboard the UAVs, the same system which provides the communications path for flight control of the aircraft. A network interface adapter allows the data from the TCDL to be received by a Rockwell Collins Joint Tactical Information Distribution System (JTIDS) terminal aboard the ship.

There is excitement in the hanger-cum-UAV control center of the Cobalt frigate. The dreaded anti-ship missiles are clearly visible at the crest of a ridge. The Bal-E battery, with its X-band surface search radar and Kh-35 Uran missiles, is positioned further inland than expected, and it would be dangerous for the Special Forces team to attempt to reach it quickly in order to paint it with a laser. Not a problem. The operator of Night Heron takes full manual control of the craft and directs it toward the battery's location. Cobalt's Admiral, in the combat information center of the destroyer Shiva (former French Tourville-class), serving as Flagship for the task force, orders the strike package of F/A-18s to proceed to their targets using a quick burst transmission from shipboard ITT Single Channel Ground to Air Radio System (SINCGARS) to equivalent sets aboard the aircraft. Only the targeting information needed for an attack on the Bal-E is sent in the plain-text mode, encrypted like all previous transmissions using a Cincinnati Electronics AN/CSZ-12 KY-57 VINSON-compatible crypto device, interfaced with the SINCGARS. The Admiral also orders three Lynx helicopters aloft with combat search and rescue (CSAR) gear to be on station outside the estuary to provide support, if required.

Midnight

The Colonel is aroused from a pleasant dream with a message from the Vermillion SIGINT station. This unit, equipped with an EADS Ames radar ELINT set in an armored vehicle, reports it is detected periodic emissions of S-band radar. Unfortunately, the aircraft was probably using chirp or spread-spectrum communications, because none of the Rohde & Schwarz DDF-190 direction finding set with the headquarters company, operating in normal mode, had been able to get a fix on it. The air-defense commander is requesting permission to light up the search radars. The Colonel calls for coffee and speculates that the expected enemy UAVs have arrived. He orders the Crimson King to sea - quietly - to begin a passive search with its Tadiran NATACS 2000 COMINT/DF system. If there were UAVs about, they had to come from somewhere.

The Colonel declines to turn on the Crotale radars and instead instructs the crews of the BAE Systems' Hostile Artillery Location System (HALO) Mark 2 deployed with each of his three infantry platoons to locate the threat. Originally developed to help British forces in the Former Yugoslavia covertly find Serbian artillery positions, HALO processes signals from pre-positioned microphones to identify specific types of ordnance by the acoustic waves they make in flight. A recent software upgrade enables the processors to identify and track engine sounds and even human footfalls. Shortly after going into action, the HALO teams are providing location information by landlines on not one but two UAVs sniffing around the Harbor, one at low altitude and another about two kilometers up. The Colonel releases the Shilka crew to maneuver for a shot at one or both of the UAVs. This unit is a Ukrainian upgrade with a day/night camera and a laser rangefinder that will enable the crew to track and destroy slow-flying targets without using the fire-control radar.

The Shilka commander positions his vehicle on a knoll east of the town that affords a clear view of the Harbor and the heights farther inland. He receives a report on the low-flying UAV's position from one of the HALO teams, and he spots the offending craft with the nightvision camera. The gunner lases the aircraft and lets the computer do the rest. The noise and flashes are terrific - as is the sight of the ball of flame that erupts in the sky and then falls to ground in a shower. Night Heron's operator sees a fine portrait of his charge's killer before the screen goes blank.

Cobalt's recce team, now ashore, has divided into two groups that frame the target beach, searching for mines and entanglements. The group on the right, led by the Special Forces Major, has moved inland and is concealed west of town. Both groups have been maintaining radio silence for the time being. They don't want the enemy to know that they're there - yet. The fireworks across town, however, indicate that the game is afoot. The Special Forces men of the second group hurriedly set up their gear, including their Raytheon AN/PAQ-3 Modular Universal Laser Equipment (MULE). The operator points the MULE at the Shilka, which appears to be holding its advantageous ground.

The range and position data provided by the MULE is then transmitted by the radio operator using the handheld Raytheon Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS). To reduce the chances of these transmissions being detected, the operator sends very short messages and uses the radio's frequency-hopping mode, as well as the embedded crypto device, to secure the transmissions. The use of short-duration transmissions decreases their probability of detection, while the hopping and encryption provide a safety net in the event that the transmissions are intercepted. There's not much of a delay before word comes from Shiva that the recce team is going to be needed to designate targets for the inbound strike package. The mobile AAA gun is the first order of business. Three F/A-18s will attack with laser-guided weapons at minute intervals. The first will attack the Shilka, and the second and third will attack the Bal-E site. All have enough fuel to remain on station to attack targets of opportunity as they are designated.

Careful as the recce team has been, the increase in radio traffic has increased the chances that Vermillion's DF equipment would overhear. The DDF-190 set, now operating in continuous mode, has succeeded in snatching a few bursts from the JTRS. While the EBD-190 DF processing unit chews on the location problem using the advanced correlative interferometer method, data is sent to the Applied Signal Elvira signals-analysis workstation located at HQ. It's not long before the Vermillion intelligence officer concludes that there are enemy troops on the ground in the vicinity of the Harbor, probably Special Forces using JTRS transceivers. There is no chance at decrypting the enemy codes in the time allowed, but their position can be pinpointed. The Colonel is informed.

The first Cobalt F/A-18 streaks in from the south at wave-top level. Inside the mouth of the estuary, the pilot pops up and shortly hears the tone from the laser targeting system. He releases an AGM-65 Maverick missile and clears to the west in a wide circle that will carry his aircraft back out over the sea, ready for another pass. The Maverick unerringly follows the laser light reflecting off the Shilka. That laser warning receiver option the Ukranians had offered would have been very useful about then.

The recce team celebrates their victory privately, and the MULE operator quickly swivels the unit to paint the radar truck that covers the approaches to the Harbor and controls the Bal-3 battery. This vehicle is at the outer reaches of the laser's five-kilometer range, but there is no time to move closer. The second F/A-18 pilot ventures closer to the Harbor before performing his own pop-up and release maneuver. Once again, the seeker of a Maverick missile rides the energy to its designated target, which vanishes in a sudden flash. The next target is one of the missile-launching trucks itself. The third F/A-18 lines up on the target. But this time the pilot pops up into the coverage of the now active Ku-band pulse-Doppler tracking radars of the Crotale launchers.

Vermillion's network-centric air-defense system passes information between the SAM crews. The network selects one of these vehicles for the shot, and moments later a hypervelocity missile roars out of one of the canisters. At Mach 3.5, the missile covers the six kilometers to the target in less than eight seconds. Some good news for the pilot: He ejects with enough legroom for his parachute to deploy. Their designated targets obliterated, the two remaining F/A-18s, too valuable to remain sitting ducks for the Crotales, are ordered to get the hell out of there. Having unmasked the air-defense battery, the Colonel decides that there is no need to suffer the indignity of a UAV's attentions any longer and a Crotale is instructed to bring it down. The self-propelled launchers then turn off their radars and displace with urgency.

Pre-Dawn

The ejected pilot bobs in the water, his Tadiran Airborne Search and Rescue System (ASARS) beacon immediately beginning to transmit plain-text pulses at 90 MHz. It won't be long now before somebody will find him floating in the icy waters of the estuary, awaiting rescue. He just hopes that those who reach him first will have rescue in mind. The pulses from the ASARS beacon are indeed picked up by the ASARS receivers aboard Cobalt helicopters, but they are also detected by the Thales Altesse ESM system aboard Wrasse , which is monitoring the 20 to 500 MHz band for enemy radio. The minesweeper throttles up and turns toward the signal. The race is on!

The three Lynx helicopters from the Cobalt task force on CSAR duty, turn from their original heading and follow the ASARS signal. The CSAR leader sends a message over the SINCGARS radio to the Shiva , informing the CIC of the location of the downed pilot and the appearance of the Vermillion ship and requesting permission to proceed with the rescue. Shiva signals the go-ahead. One of the Lynx helicopters will focus on rescuing the pilot, one will provide close support, and the third will make an attack on the minesweeper. The helicopter on attack lights up its Agrion search radar briefly to get range, bearing, and heading on Wrasse . The information is supplied to the Penguin's navigation system, and the missile is sent on its way. An IR-seeking fire-and-forget missile, the Penguin needs no further attention from the Lynx, which evades seaward. The crew of the Wrasse never knew what hit them.

The Cobalt Admiral, now confident that the rescue of the pilot will not be interrupted by Vermillion forces, sends a quick message over the Rohde & Schwarz XB2900 HF radios installed aboard all his surface vessels. Of his total force, only these ships can read the simple message intended for the four Russian-built Zubr air-cushioned landing ships that carry the invasion force: "Proceed to land." Less than 50 kilometers away, the Captain of the Vermillion missile boat Crimson King , having resisted every temptation to insert himself into the search and rescue operation, was now prepared to make his move. The operator of the NANTACS 2000 COMINT/DF system has concentrated on monitoring the HF band, between 0.3 and 30 MHz, for short-range communications among the ships in the enemy task force, like the one he just received. The navigator plots an intercept course. The Captain orders the Crimson King to 30 knots.

Ashore, Vermillion infantry has made contact with the Cobalt Special Forces, and a hot firefight is under way in the darkness. The Special Forces Major knows his mission now is to hold the approaches to the landing beach. Mortar rounds are landing with unnerving accuracy in and around his men. It's as if his positions, chosen with all his experience and craft, had been pre-sighted. In fact, it was the work performed by the HALO teams and DDF-190 interpreters. Furthermore, the Vermillion Colonel has moved the Fuchs armored car attached to the Leopard platoon to a copse on the forward slope of the hill overlooking the suspected landing beach. The Fuchs carries a C. Plath DFFP 7107 direction finder. While the equipment is not able to decrypt intercepts, it is able to take bearings of frequency hoppers and spread-spectrum, burst, and chirp communications. The operators in the vehicle get the order to monitor a certain frequency range and to look for special types of signals. They have additional equipment to analyze the types of modulation and to do fingerprinting. Situation reports from the Special Forces on their JTRS transceivers can't be read by the enemy, but they can be targeted. The Leopards remain under cover of their Barracuda netting. The Colonel's orders are to permit the Cobalt landing in order to inflict maximum damage rather than deter it, and the appearance of Leopards so close to the beach might cause his opposite number to scupper his plans.

The Captain of Crimson King reckons he is less than 30 kilometers northeast of the Cobalt task force. Close enough for the money shot. The fire-control officer sets navigation and seas- conditions data into the computer for the four IAI Gabriel III missiles. In the fire- and-forget mode, the Gabriel III is guided by inertial navigation into the target area, with altitude maintained by a radar altimeter. It then turns on its active radar seeker to lock onto and attack the target after a search. Once the missiles are on their way, there is nothing for the Captain to do but turn away to the east and trust the Gabriels to do the rest.

What the Vermillion Captain did not know was that the Cobalt task force, which he had plotted at 20 knots, included Zubr air-cushion ships. The signal that brought Crimson King in for the attack sent the four powerful, gas- turbine-propelled landing craft sprinting for the beach at 50 knots. When the four sea-skimming missiles arrived at the appointed spot and activated their I-band targeting radars, only Shiva and Cuchulainn were there to receive them. Not prone to disappointment, the missiles locked two apiece on the Cobalt destroyer and frigate. Radar warning receivers set alarms ringing on both ships. Shiva , equipped with a Thales ARBR 32 jammer, is unable to spoof the ECCM system of the Gabriel IIIs. The Matra Daegie chaff dispensers, cued by the ARBR 16 warning receivers, automatically fire a centroid pattern between the ship and the missies. The Gabriel IIIs lose their lock and pass harmlessly astern of the Flagship. The Cuchulainn does not respond as quickly and the frigate is fatally struck by two missiles.

Dawn

The Cobalt landing craft, meanwhile, roar ashore with their complement of 200 infantrymen; an Allied light armored company of 12 Centauro B1 armored fighting vehicles and a LAV-25 command and communications vehicle; and an air-defense platoon equipped with three Pantsyr-S1 missile-gun systems with a command vehicle. Over his Harris PRC-117F Falcon II radio, the Battalion Lt. Colonel, in charge of the beachhead, directs naval gunfire support. Although engaged in search and rescue operations, Shiva responds as best as she can and brings her two 100mm guns into action. With shells raining all around them, the Vermillion forces cannot move to intercept the Cobalt troops as they come ashore, where they join up with the reconnaissance force. The mighty Zubrs remain on the beach to provide direct fire support with their 6-barreled 30mm guns and 122mm rocket launchers.

The Cobalt troops consolidate their beachhead, setting up the Pantsyr-S1 to provide air defense, just in case their intelligence had overlooked any Vermillion aircraft that might be able to reach the area in time. The tanks and infantry assemble, and the Lt. Colonel sends a situation report to the Shiva via a JTIDS terminal in the LAV-25. Without the JTIDS terminal on the command vehicle, the armored segment of the Cobalt forces would be left without any way to communicate securely with the rest of the invasion force. Fitting this terminal onboard the LAV-25 required special fixes - first just making space in the vehicle for the 25-lb. system, and then dealing with antenna-placement issues to prevent interference with other electronics systems onboard.

Moreover, a certain degree of forward planning was required to adapt the Thales Panther radios on the Centauros to ensure secure communications with their Coalition allies. Since the Panther has an encryption capability that is different from one employed by the JTRS and the Falcon II radios in use with the recon force and the infantry, respectively, an external KY-57 module was required to permit encrypted communications. However, one drawback remained: Any transmissions thus sent could only be done in a fixed-frequency mode. This means no frequency hopping and, thus, transmitters more easily detected and located.

With direction-finding information from the DFFP 7107 on the Fuchs, the Vermillion Leopards move from their reverse-slope position to engage the lighter Centauros. A fierce firefight ensues as the armored forces come within line-of-sight of one another. Overmatched, the Centauros pop smoke and call for help. Desperate crews radio the LAV with their Panthers on a fixed 30-MHz frequency, warning of the approaching heavy tanks and passing along position data. The LAV then uses its JTIDS terminal to relay that information to the Shiva , which is networked with the Falcon II radios of the embarked General HQ through the PRC-117F interface. The General's staff draws up a plan of fire missions, verifies it with fleet planners, and distributes the plan back to the maneuver companies through Battalion on the beach. The infantry companies equipped with Falcon II terminals receive updated maps and in addition to voice. Everybody else gets voice only. The JTIDS provides the secure node of contact between the infantry and armored forces ashore. It's cumbersome, but it works. The commanding General on Shiva considers himself fortunate that Vermillion doesn't appear to have any comm jammers deployed.

With the backing of overwhelming direct and indirect fire support, Cobalt infantry routs the Vermillion infantry and the heavy tanks are obliged to withdraw. As the surviving Centauros celebrate their deliverance from the jaws of the Leopards, the Special Forces Major notices an unknown UAV flying over the Harbor they are securing. The guns of the Pantsyr are all it takes to eliminate that pest.

However, the UAV has already passed images of the beachhead to an airborne C3I aircraft loitering 20 kilometers inland. This, in turn, has passed the information back to Vermillion Regional Command, which issues launch authorization for the Scud-D missiles. These are the latest type, with GPS receivers and optical seekers and control surfaces on the reentry vehicles for terminal course correction. The Colonel is advised to send any of his fine china and expensive staff cars to the rear.

 

 

 

Scenario Equipment List

Applied Signal Elvira signal-processing workstation: a system designed for signal collection, processing, and analysis of RF communications

Avitronics Shrike ESM receiver: a compact, lightweight naval ESM system capable of rapid detection, analysis, and identification of radar systems and associated threats

BAE Systems Hostile Artillery Location (HALO) System Mk 2: an acoustic system consisting of clusters of sensitive microphones that pick up and locate the source of the acoustic waves caused by the firing of guns or mortars, providing 360° coverage in an area up to 6,500 square kilometers

C. Plath DFP-7107: a broadband radio-reconnaissance system designed for mobile applications and operating in the 20 MHz-3 GHz range to detect signals and perform direction and location finding of all transmission types (e.g., frequency hoppers, spread spectrum, et al.), as well as signal analysis and replay

Cincinnati Electronics AN/CSZ-12 Lightweight Multifunction Encryption Unit: a KY-57 VINSON-compatible COMSEC interface module for voice and data transmissions

EADS Advanced Mobile ELINT System (AMES): a ground-based ELINT system - consisting of a superheterodyne ESM receiver combined with a compressive receiver, a mast-mounted ESM antenna, a processor, and a real-time pulse analyzer-designed to search for, intercept, monitor, locate, analyze, classify, and identify radar emissions

EADS Telegon 12 HF receiver: a digital direction finder with a frequency coverage of 0.1-1,000 MHz (optional to 3,000 MHz) that can operate either as a stand-alone system or in concert with others in a DF baseline

Harris AN/PRC-117F Falcon II radio: a frequency-hopping multiband multimode manpack radio covering the 30-512 MHz range with embedded encryption and SATCOM capabilities

ITT AN/ARC-201D Single Channel Ground to Air Radio System (SINCGARS): an FM frequency-hopping

L-3 Communications-West Tactical Common Datalink (TCDL): a wideband, full-duplex, line-of-sight communications system that provides the communication path for flight control of its host UAV and its sensors from ships and ground stations (or possibly from a manned aircraft) and for transmission of the UAV's status and sensor data from the UAV to ships, ground stations, other aircraft, and ground forces

Raytheon Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS): a program to develop advanced tactical multiband multimode radio system operating in the 225-400 MHz range (eventually from 2-2,000 MHz), offering embedded encryption and networking capabilities [Note: The handheld versions used in this story are not yet available, but according to an industry source, field production of such a variant may occur in 6-7 years. Also, in this scenario, the JTRS uses KY-57 encryption. This will likely be supplanted in fielded versions of the radio. Moreover, Raytheon, although prime on the current phase of the JTRS program, is not assured of winning the final production contract.]

Rockwell Collins Joint Tactical Information Distribution System (JTIDS): a tactical network system operating in the 960-1,215 MHz range in the L Band (51 frequencies are used starting at 969 MHz and spaced 3 MHz apart) that employs frequency hopping (about 77,000 hops/sec) and a secure data unit for encryption

Rohde & Schwarz DDF-190: a monitoring receiver and direction finder (of signals in any modulation), capable of operating in the HF and VHF/UHF bands simultaneously

Rohde & Schwarz HF Broadband System XB2900: a naval communications system operating in the 1.5 to 30 MHz range for voice, data, automatic link establishment (ALE), and electronic-protection-measures (EPM) operation, with an antenna system consisting of two or three broadband antennas

Tadiran Airborne Search and Rescue System (ASARS): airborne search and rescue system activated automatically upon pilot ejection, featuring automatic response to airborne-unit interrogation; a 24-hr. battery life; range measurement and 360° direction-finding capabilities, up to its 200-km operational range; 3,000 operating frequencies in the 90-420 MHz range; and a VHF/UHF voice- communication capability

Tadiran NATACS 2000: an integrated naval tactical COMINT/DF system, operating in HF (0.3-30 MHz) and VHF/UHF (20-1,000 MHz) frequency ranges, that provides spectrum scanning (using wideband receivers), monitoring, detection and location finding, signal classification and digital audio recording

Thales Altesse: a naval ESM system operating over the 20-500 MHz band (with optional coverage ranges of 20-1,350 MHz; 1-500 MHz, 1-1,350 MHz, and 1MHz-3 GHz), capable of dealing with frequency-hopping, free-channel-search, and burst-data transmissions

Thales Panther V radio: an FM frequency- hopping manpack or vehicular radio operating in the 30-108 MHz range
 

 

 

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