UAS Have Achieved Certain Mission Successes but DOD Faces Emerging Interoperability and Other Challenges on Joint Operations

DOD has achieved certain operational successes with UAS including  collecting intelligence with unmanned aircraft sensor payloads and  conducting offensive strike missions with weapons payloads in  Afghanistan and Iraq. In operations in Iraq or Afghanistan since 2002, U.S. forces have  used UAS in integral roles on intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance,  and offensive strike joint or service-specific missions. However, slow intelligence data transmission can undermine U.S.  forces’ ability to attack time-critical targets or allow the targets to escape. At the same time, DOD continues to develop and field  UAS without adjusting the standards, likely causing the problem to become  even more widespread. In addition to communications interoperability problems, payload  interoperability (commonly referred to as “payload commonality”)  problems also exist. However, many sensor payloads can be attached to only one type of  unmanned aircraft because DOD has not adopted a payload commonality  standard even though this problem was identified nearly 20 years ago. In addition to the flexibility inherent in the communications standards,  according to U.S. Central Command based on its experience in Persian Gulf  operations, unmanned aircraft development has been service-centric and  lacks an overarching employment doctrine to shape development to  achieve aircraft and sensor interoperable communications and payload  commonality. Inclement Weather Limits Some Unmanned Aircraft Operations

Unmanned aircraft are more likely to be grounded by inclement weather  than manned aircraft due in part to their lighter weight. DOD Has Made Little Progress in Addressing the Challenges

While DOD has acknowledged the need to improve UAS interoperability  and address bandwidth and weather constraints that undermine unmanned  aircraft operations, little progress has been made. DOD views these changes as means to more  effectively manage service UAS programs. Third, DOD’s guidance requires  interoperability but the detailed standards have not been developed. DOD’s Approach to Evaluating Joint UAS Performance on Operational Deployments Has Been Unsound

DOD’s approach to evaluating joint UAS performance on operational  deployments is unsound because it has not implemented a systematic  approach to evaluating such performance. To  date, DOD has relied on service-specific information that addressed certain  UAS performance. For example, some forces filed after-action reports and  maintenance reports addressing UAS performance. While producing some  useful information, these reports have not necessarily been specifically  targeted to joint UAS operations, nor do they systematically identify key  indicators for collection which could be used to develop joint operational  performance baselines and permit performance measurement against the  baseline. DOD’s UAS Joint Performance Reporting Has Not Been Routine

In addition to anecdotal performance reporting, DOD has not established  routine performance reporting mechanisms for UAS operations but instead  has relied on sometimes short-duration study teams to gather relevant joint  operational performance information. Recommendations for Executive Action

To address the challenges emerging in joint operations, we recommend that  the Secretary of Defense direct the Undersecretary of Defense  (Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics), the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs  of Staff, the service secretaries, and other appropriate organizations to  work together to take the following four actions  develop or adjust communications interoperability standards and  electromagnetic frequency reprogramming capabilities standards and  ensure that they are applied to new or modified unmanned aircraft,  sensor and communications payloads, ground stations, and related  equipment;   develop sensor and other payload commonality standards where  practical and enforce such standards when modifying existing  unmanned aircraft or payloads and developing new ones;  develop appropriately detailed UAS interoperability standards; and   determine whether unmanned aircraft need all-weather flying  capabilities, identify any performance degradation associated with all- weather flying capabilities, and obtain all-weather capabilities where  appropriate. To improve joint operational performance reporting, we recommend that  the Secretary of Defense direct the Commander of the U.S. Strategic  Command to ensure that the performance measurement system being  developed by the command at a minimum  measures how effectively UAS perform their missions by identifying  quantifiable goals and comparing results with desired outcomes;  identifies the specific performance indicator information that needs to  be collected to adequately assess joint performance;  develops indicators that assess communications and payload  interoperability, and the extent to which electromagnetic spectrum  congestion is undermining joint operations;  establishes baselines and applies the identified indicators against the  baselines to gauge success in joint UAS performance; and  develops a way to systematically collect identified performance  information and routinely reports it to organizations that develop and  field UAS. GAO/NSIAD-96-2.
Why GAO Did This Study

Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) consist of an unmanned aircraft; sensor, communications, or weapons, carried on board the aircraft, collectively referred to as payloads; and ground controls. UAS have been used successfully in recent operations, and are in increasingly high demand by U.S. forces. To meet the demand, the Department of Defense (DOD) is increasing its investment in and reliance on UAS, and often deploying them while still in development. GAO has previously found that DOD's approach to developing and fielding UAS risked interoperability problems which could undermine joint operations. GAO was asked to review (1) UAS performance in recent joint operations and (2) the soundness of DOD's approach to evaluating joint UAS operational performance.

What GAO Found

DOD has achieved certain operational successes using UAS, including identifying time-critical targets in Iraq and Afghanistan, and striking enemy positions to defeat opposing forces. Some missions effectively supported joint operations, and in other cases, the missions were service-specific. DOD has encountered challenges which have hampered joint operations at times. First, some UAS cannot easily transmit and receive data with other communication systems because they are not interoperable. Although DOD guidance requires interoperability, detailed standards for interoperability have not been developed; DOD has relied on existing, more general standards; and the services developed differing systems. For now, U.S. forces have developed technical patches permitting transmission but slowing data flow, potentially hampering time-critical targeting. Second, some sensor payloads cannot be interchangeably used on different UAS because DOD has not adopted a payload commonality standard. Some UAS missions may have to be delayed if compatible unmanned aircraft and payloads are not available. Based on its experience with UAS in Persian Gulf operations, U.S. Central Command believes communications interoperability and payload commonality problems occur because the services' UAS development programs have been service-specific and insufficiently attentive to joint needs. Lastly, the electromagnetic spectrum needed to control the flight of certain unmanned aircraft and to transmit data is constrained and no standard requiring the capability to change frequencies had been adopted because the problem was not foreseen. Thus, some systems cannot change to avoid congestion and consequently some missions have been delayed, potentially undermining time-critical targeting. In addition to the joint operational challenges, inclement weather can also hamper UAS operations. Unmanned aircraft are more likely to be grounded in inclement weather than manned aircraft and DOD had not decided whether to require all-weather capability. While DOD has acknowledged the need to improve UAS interoperability and address bandwidth and weather constraints, little progress has been made. Until DOD adopts and enforces interoperability and other standards, these challenges will likely remain and become more widespread as new UAS are developed and fielded. DOD's approach to evaluating UAS joint operational performance has been unsound because it was not systematic or routine. DOD has deployed UAS before developing a joint operations performance measurement system, even though results-oriented performance measures can be used to monitor progress toward agency goals. DOD has generally relied on after-action and maintenance reports which have useful but not necessarily joint performance information. DOD has also relied on short-duration study teams for some performance information but had not established ongoing or routine reporting systems. Thus, while continuing to invest in UAS, DOD has incomplete performance information on joint operations on which to base acquisition or modification decisions. In May 2005, U.S. Strategic Command began developing joint performance measures.