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26 <a href="http://www.mca-marines.org/gazette">www.mca-marines.org/gazette</a> M a r i n e C o r p s G a z e t t e • M a y 2 0 0 9 IDEAS & ISSUES (AVIATION) cent of all logistics support items re- quired by the MAGTF (in the sce- nario they used). • The employment of a cargo UAV nearly eliminated the need for manned aircraft to execute logistics support missions. • The addition of the cargo UAV sig- nificantly enhanced MAGTF opera- tional flexibility by increasing the number of manned aircraft flight hours available for other missions, such as AST. • The addition of the cargo UAV en- hanced MAGTF operational respon- siveness by keeping more total aircraft available more often to meet unex- pected mission requirements. • The addition of the cargo UAV re- duced the total risk to manned air- craft by 64 percent. • The loss of a UAV has far less impact on measured mission support than the loss of one manned helicopter. • A mix of manned and unmanned aircraft can provide increased opera- tional capability and reduce risk. Although not part of the study, it seems intuitive that the loss of a UAV has lit- tle impact on public perceptions of combat losses and little to no impact on media reporting or political interest in combat operations. Simply put, it is the lives of U.S. military personnel that are important, and this is as it should be. As noted in the Reinforced 2015 MEB [Marine Expeditionary Brigade] Assessment (Cargo UAV Variant) Study published in May 2007 and in the UNS, the addition of the cargo UAV reduced the total risk to manned air- craft by an average of 27 percent. This preserves tiltrotor and rotary-wing as- sets to perform other missions, such as AST. UALSs meet many of the require- ments found in the 2008 MAGTF ca- pability list. They directly support two of the eight key capabilities—conduct operational- to tactical-level logistics operations from the seabase in support of operations ashore and protect per- sonnel. As illustrated in Table 1, UALSs also directly contribute to sev- eral supporting capabilities. Finally, UALSs support 9 of the 21 workshop capabilities listed under lo- gistics.5 Due to the evolution of future seabasing, the ability to support STOM, and the support of ECO, the Corps requires the ability and agility to support small, dispersed units over sig- nificant distances deep inland without risk to personnel. This will enhance op- erational flexibility while mitigating risk to landbased manned systems, such as trucks and critical assault air- craft. Although not part of either study, it seems logical that a similar risk re- duction to motor transport vehicles and Marines could easily be realized by using UALSs as a substitute for over- land transportation. Comparing UALS capability to manned transport aircraft capability is an obvious exercise and one that must be accomplished. Studies that consider the advantages of UALSs as a comple- mentary capability to our manned transport aircraft have provided exten- sive information on how UALSs can free manned transport for other mis- The current array of UASs. (Photo courtesy of the author.)
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