Inside Defense reports on a recent Center for Army Lessons Learned study which examined the use of the Warlock IED jamming device, as well as the Raven UAV, by the 3rd Infantry Division in Iraq. It notes some obstacles and some tradeoffs experienced in the Army’s attempts at transformation.
First, with respect to Warlock, Inside Defense reports:
Warlock radio frequency jammers in use in Iraq interfere with Army radio communications and block controls needed to operate unmanned aerial vehicles, according to a study of the service’s initial effort to transform divisions into “modular†brigades. {DiMascio, "Jammers Causing Interference in Iraq", 2006}
Next, with respect to the use of the Raven UAV,
…the study recommends that the Army Aviation Center and Army Air Defense Artillery Center conduct an “end-to-end†review of small UAS operations. Also, the study calls for procedures covering small unmanned aerial systems to be added to current doctrine and recommends wide dissemination of revised tactics. {DiMascio, "Jammers Causing Interference in Iraq", 2006}
We have seen these kinds of problems mentioned before, particularly the air traffic control problem related to the use of UAVs. It is the reason that the FAA has still not approved the use of UAVs in border security activities.
Tags: UAV, Raven, military transformation, IED, electronic warfare