1991 Joint STARS

NOMINATION FOR THE SFTE "KELLY" JOHNSON
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

While most of the flight test world worked secure and undaunted at their respective test facilities and test centers, a small, relatively unknown, group of dedicated flight test engineers and test pilots flew nightly combat missions with a development system over the skies of Saudi Arabia. It is with great pleasure and personal pride that I nominate the Joint STARS Test Team for this year's SFTE "Kelly" Johnson Outstanding Achievement Award.

The Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (Joint STARS) is an airborne system, resident on a Boeing 707 airframe, which provides near real-time surveillance and targeting information on moving and stationary ground targets, slow moving rotary and fixed-wing aircraft, and rotating antennas. The heart of the Joint STARS is the multimode radar with high speed signal and data processors. The radar operates in three modes: The Wide Area Surveillance (WAS) mode with a Moving Target Indicator (MTI) that can detect moving targets over a very large area; a high resolution small area mode, again with MTI, for more detailed surveillance; and the Synthetic Apenure Radar (SAR) mapping mode that provides terrain mapping and Fixed Target Indicator (FTI) capability. The remainder of the airborne system includes the Operations and Control (O&C) Subsystem, which interfaces the radar to the operator so that he can perform battlefield surveillance, targeting and attack planning, and the Communication Subsystem which connects the aircraft with other air and ground elements using radios and digital data links.

Joint STARS is being developed by Air Force Systems Command's Electronic Systems Division (ESD) at Hanscom Air Force Base in Massachusetts. The Air Force's prime contractor for the air segment is Grumman Melbourne Systems (GMS), an operating Division of Grumman Corporation at Melbourne, Florida. The flight test program is being conducted by a Joint Test Force stationed in Melbourne, Florida and made up of Air Force, Army and GMS personnel.

The system began development flight test in April, 1989. Since that time, primary emphasis has been placed on developing the radar sensor and the Operations and Control Subsystem. As of August, 1990, approximately 60% of the operational systems software had been written and laboratory tested. Most had been evaluated in flight and was in various states of rebuild. In August, 1990, the Joint STARS Test Team was asked to deploy to Europe to conduct an Operational Field Demonstration (OFD). Despite the relative immaturity of the system, it was thought that an early assessment of the system in an operational environment was warranted in order to validate the basic design.

Throughout the course of six weeks, the Test Team flew 25 sorties for 112 system operating flight hours. During this period, the team successfully demonstrated the WAS and SAR radar modes. Firsts included: collecting valuable data against an European radar clutter environment, and in a dense EMI region; finding and targeting actual mechanized convoy movements; "shooting" SARs of tactically significant targets; and participating in Army combat exercises.

Upon returning to the U.S. in September, 1990, the Test Team dedicated itself to reducing the OFD data, and modifying the system software and the sensor hardware in preparation for the next phase of test. This plan was interrupted on 22 December 1990 when the Joint STARS JTF received the order to deploy for support of Operation Desert Storm. Despite the fact that a significant portion of the development flight test program still lay ahead, the field commanders who had seen the system perform during OFD had suggested to General Schwartzkopf that Joint STARS could significantly contribute to the Mid-East crisis.

For the next three weeks, the Test Team finished the pending modifications, added capabilities that had not been planned for test until mid-1991, and conducted a mini systems level performance flight test program. Nineteen sorties and 88 flight test hours were spent wringing out the reconfigured system and completing KC-10 aerial refueling certification. In parallel, the test team was tasked to train fifteen mission crew members who were not Joint STARS "literate", but had tactical AWACS experience. The final provisional crews were made up of AFSC test pilots and test navigators, AFSC flight test engineers, acting as system operators; TAC system operators with operational C3I experience, but no Joint STARS experience; and Grumman and Norden system engineers.

On 11 January, 1991, the only two Joint STARS in existence deployed to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for the ultimate flight test. Beginning on 14 January, and for the next 49 consecutive nights, these "test beds" flew 12-14 hour combat sorties. Joint STARS was airborne when the air war started, when the ground war started, and when the Iraqi's made their historic retreat from Kuwait. During each of these phases of the war, the test aircraft and their test crews made significant contributions. Joint STARS was given credit for 11 SCUD finds/kills, over 700 mechanized vehicle finds/kills, and over 500 artillery finds/kills. Flight test engineers learned how to detect enemy movements, interpret SAR imagery, and nominate targets to the on-board battle staff, all the while collecting valuable test data and keeping the development system functioning.

On 6 March, 1991, Joint STARS returned to Melbourne, FL having accumulated 535 combat hours. No other development system in the history of modem aviation has even been taken out of test, manned with test pilots and flight test engineers, and sent to war. The data collected from Desert Storm is being reduced and exploited in order to hone operational requirements, improved system performance, correct deficiencies, and restructure the remaining development test program. This unbelievable success was due solely to the remarkable talents and dedication of the finest flight test team of the year. Their historic accomplishments must not go unrecognized by their professional peers.