CCJO-Scalable and Tailorable Effects Weapons
Transcript of CCJO-Scalable and Tailorable Effects Weapons
Capstone Concept for Joint Operations (CCJO) Delivering Scalable and
Tailorable Effects Weapons (STEW)
Program Goal – develop, integrate and test capabilities to deliver scalable and tailorable weapon effects to match urban combat targeting objectives, subject to constraints on acceptable collateral casualties
Why is this Darpa hard? Fog-of-war, concealed non-accessible positions, difficult cluttered sensing environment, intermixed combatant/non-combatant (Com/N-Com) populations, fleeting opportunities, compressed battlespace/timelines
Technology Objectives (Thrust Areas) Accurate, precise, real-time discrimination between
Com/N-Com presence in the weapon effects zone Structure-penetrating discrimination systems Controllable release, direction and application of a
mix of weapon effects Autonomous or semi-autonomous weapon
behaviors, decision making
State-of-art (Current practice) How is it done today? ISR/targeting/weapon kill-
chain: Fuse ISR + tactical intelligence + SIGINT/COMINT/HUMINT →C2/FDC nodes → strike platforms, indirect fire support, drones
Current limitations? Inaccurate/unreliable discrimination, long standoff ranges, latency contributing to missed opportunities
New Approach (Key enablers) What is different and why will it be successful? Focus on specific discrimination signatures (not general purpose sensing, imaging, recognition) Apply structure penetration technologies to enhance sensing proximity and discrimination Extend kill chain process to the “last meter” to maximize tactical opportunities, minimize collateral casualties
What are the expected outcomes if program succeeds?
Agile, flexible tactical decisions Effective application of firepower Denial of urban safe havens to enemy
combatants Minimize collateral casualties
What are the risks? Affordable engineering of structure-
penetrating delivery systems Survivability of discrimination sensors Dispersal sub-systems
Technical risks Effective discrimination technologies Achieving scalable and tailorable
weapon effects
Mixed Combatant and Non-Combatant Populations
Inaccurate Discrimination of Combatant/Non-Combatant Presence
Avoidable Collateral Casualties
NGO estimates of collateral casualties Iraq – 133,000 killed Afghanistan – 21,000 killed Pakistan – > 20,000 killed Gaza 2014 conflict – 1,800 killed,
approximately 10,000 wounded
ISR surveillance and ground intelligence assets provide insufficient and stale information
Drones and strike assets lack discrimination capabilities
Tactical time windows are narrow, decision timelines are compressed
Notional Operational Scenario and Timelines
• (Phase 1) Initial assessment of collateral casualties in the weapon effects zone • (Phase 2) Collection of proximity discrimination signatures • (Phase 3) Weapon release and flyout • (Phase 4) Autonomous weapon control • (Phase 5) Follow-up courses-of-action
Phase 1 – Initial ISR + intelligence assessment A multi-story residential building in an urban zone is under surveillance. Enemy presence in the building has been detected and the building has been selected for the candidate target list. Intelligence reports and tactical data indicate high probability of civilian presence including families with children. One possibility is that the civilians are mostly confined to the lower levels and basement while the enemy conducts operations from the rooftop and upper level vantage points. Surveillance indicates temporal patterns to the enemy operations. Collateral casualty modeled estimates are judged acceptable if a strike is launched when enemy forces are concentrated at levels and rooftop.
Phase 2 – Collection of discrimination signatures At T=XXXX hours, airborne video indicates the beginning of enemy movement as the standing watch is relieved. A call for fire is issued and at T+x (seconds), multiple KIP/DSC arrivals penetrate the building walls and upper floors. Clusters of sensors are dispersed through the upper levels but no structural damage is caused. The KIP/DSC sensors collect acoustic and motion detection data and form an ad-hoc network. Simultaneously, a PG/DSC package is launched from the airborne asset to arrive at the target within y seconds of the initial KIP impact. The PG/DSC package deploys over the building rooftop suspended by an altitude-position controlled balloon. The PG/DSC package includes video sensors and a datalink relay to the KIP/DSC sensors.
Phase 3 – Weapon release and flyout A Scalable/Tailorable Effects Weapon (STEW) is launched at T+x+y+z, with time of impact estimated at T+x+y+z+l. The STEW command processor assumes weapon control at T+x+y+z+l-δ
Phase 4 – Autonomous weapon control At T+x+y+z+s (where l-δ < s < l), the uplinked acoustic data reveals signatures correlating to an infant and a woman. The weapon command processor safes the arming circuit and redirects the weapon to a nearby secondary target.
Phase 5 – Follow-up course-of-action The STEW command processor computes the new impact time and checks for any available discrimination information regarding the secondary target. There is insufficient information to achieve a high confidence assessment of collateral casualties. The STEW processor issues a self-destruct command.
Vignette
Assumptions Discrimination information is geo-referenced with common time
base Discrimination information is low dimensional, e.g. based on
presence or absence of pre-specified signatures, features or patterns
Discrimination information can be applied to confirm, refine or downgrade existing high probability hypotheses, generated from other information sources
Useful discrimination information requires near proximity to sources
Discrimination information value decays rapidly over time Use Cases
Refine presence of non-combatants Presence of high risk populations, e.g. children, women
Downgrade presence of combatants Absence of combatant activities, uniforms. gear, weapons
Confirm separation of combatants from non-combatants in target zone Localization of non-combatants outside target zone, absence of non-
combatant activities in target zone, presence of combatant activities/weapons/uniforms/gear in target zone
Key Assumptions and Use Cases
0
0.5
1
0 2 4 6 8
Daci
min
atio
n: S
tatis
tical
pow
er
Range (m)
Modality A Modality B
A Survey of Human Sensing Methods (Texeira, Dublon, Savvides; ACM Computing Surveys)
Discrimination Modalities and Signatures
Arm and hand gestures from WiTrack data (Fadel Adib, Zachary Kabelac, Dina Katabi, Robert C. Miller; MIT)
Activity signatures
Key-frame poselet activity recognition (Michalis Raptis, Leonid Sigal; Disney Research, Pittsburgh)
Disrimination Modality Signature(s) Confidence Proximity Sensing
Count Biophysical, thermal, chemical High 3 - 5 metersInfrared, bolometric, CO2, humidity
Localization Motion, range/depth Moderate 3 - 5 meters RFActivities Motion, gesture,
acoustic, vibration featuresModerate 3 - 5 meters RF, Acoustic/VLF
Age Voice/speech features Moderate 3 - 5 meters AcousticGender Voice/speech features Moderate 3 - 5 meters AcousticNon-combatant objects Image/spectral features,
range/depthModerate
5 - 8 meters Optical, RF
Combatant objects Image/spectral features range/depth
Moderate5 - 8 meters Optical, RF
Non-combatant presence Image/spectral features Low 5 - 8 meters OpticalCombatant presence Image/spectral features Low 5 - 8 meters Optical
Biometrics Very Low < 1 meter MMW, ultrasound
Feature signatures
Multispectral measurements of camouflage uniforms (Institute of Optoelectronics)
Time-frequency plot of baby crying (Erik Gustafsson, Florence Levréro,David Reby & Nicolas Mathevon, Nature Communications)
N. T. N. Tho, S. Zhao, and D. L. Jones, “Robust DOA estimation of multiple speech sources,” (ICASSP 2014),
Sensor System Common Requirements Survivability, acceleration/shock hardening, vibration
compensation Internal power source Self-locating and self-orienting services Communication and networking services Autonomous processing core
Front end : signal conditioning/signal processing Feature extraction, pattern recognition Discriminant analytics Sensor control and management
Examples Panoramic (4π sr) camera ball Miniaturized microphone arrays Metal-oxide olfactory sensor module
Discrimination Sensor Packages
Kinetic impact penetrators Metal (tungsten) alloy Liquid metal
Explosively formed penetrators – heavy masonry, multi-floor penetration
Precision guided single package – entry through windows, ingress/egress apertures, light structural barriers
Multi-stage penetrator with multiple dispersal packages
Examples of Structure Penetrators
Common STEW System Requirements Subsystems: Dual-mode seeker, Navigation (NAV), Guidance and
Control (G&C) , Command Link (CL) Autonomous Weapon Behaviors
Dynamic course-of-action (COA) decision making Terminal tracking, final impact adjustments Battle damage assessment (BDA) Selection of follow actions (e.g. 2 weapon leader/follower attacks) Weapon controller commands
Weapon Effects Controller Arming/safing, fuzing, self-destruct/self-inert Selection of effects (lethal, non-lethal) Control of release (timing, spacing, direction)
Controllable Lethal effects Multi-phase explosives, shaping, timing Tunable energy release (Dense Inert Metal Explosives) DARPA Controlled timed explosive jets (MAHEM) DARPA Reactive Material Structures (RMS) Anti-personnel – controlled fragmentation dispersal patterns
Non-lethal effects Neuro-muscular paralytics Incapacitating agents
Scalable and Tailorable Effects Weapon (STEW) Systems
CFD Simulation of directional jet formation from charge shaping and timing
Focused blast fragmentation warhead
Proposed Brimstone 2 Design – MBDA Inc.
Phase 1 – Demonstration Program Objectives
Define CONOPS Define system concepts and requirements Design / Integrate / Test prototype technologies
Discrimination Technologies Structure Penetration Delivery Systems Scalable and Tailorable Effects Weapon (STEW)
Demonstration of Prototypes Outcomes
Assess measures of effectiveness (MOEs) Down-select/prioritize technologies for further development Finalize CONOPS and SoS architecture Build DoD partnering relationships
Phase 2 – Advanced Concept Development Objectives
Complete (2) or more system concepts Operational testing of system concepts at DoD facility Finalize DoD MOU/MOA for further development and operational testing
Outcomes Validate operational effectiveness and suitability of system concepts Transition system concepts and technologies to DoD partners
Notional Program Roadmap