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...documents, unclassified government reports, and other public sources were reviewed for information regarding the system's development. The management the system development deviated from normal acquisition processes in several important ways. These are presented and the implications for flexibility in the acquisition process are discussed.
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The history of the U.S. Army operation of Special Electronic Mission Aircraft (SEMA) began during the Vietnam War. The need for signal intelligence (SIGINT) was significant during the Vietnam conflict, and as a consequence, improving the capability of these systems became an important Army priority.
GUARDRAIL DEVELOPMENT PRIOR TO COMMON SENSOR
In 1970, based on the successful development of ground-based systems in Vietnam, the National Security Agency (NSA) under the guidance of its director, Admiral Gayler, initiated the development of an airborne communications intelligence (COMINT) system with more advanced capabilities. In February 1971, the contract was awarded to Electronic Systems Laboratories (ESL), a division of TRW, for the development of what would be known as Guardrail I (Swainston, 1994).
During the early 1970'2, Guardrail I was followed by a rapid succession of Guardrail systems that included Guardrail II, III, and IV Guardrail I-IV (GR I-IV) achieved their operational requirements and were each produced on schedule and within budget. These early systems were procured by NSA as Quick Reaction Capability (QRC) programs. They were designed as theatre level assets that led to a long-term requirement for Guardrail as an Army Corps level asset. In early 1976, the Guardrail V (GR-V) program was conceived and ESL continued the program as prime contractor. The GR-V program was planned as a cost-effective, second-generation technology insertion program. In 1977, as a result of the Intelligence Organization and Stationing Study, responsibility for the Guardrail program was transferred from NSA to the Department of the Army, Electronics Command (ECOM, later to be Electronics and Communications Command, CECOM; Rawles, 1989).
Unlike the contracts for GR I-IV, the GR-V program had significantly increased formal data requirements in the areas of logistics, the qualification test program, spare parts program, quality assurance program, and software documentation. However, GR-V was still classified as a limited production urgent system. In this sense, while GR-V lost some of the skunkworks-like characteristics of GR I-IV, it still retained the authorization to proceed as an urgent QRC program with significantly reduced oversight requirements (Moye, 1986; D. Swainston, personal communication, August 3, 2001).
THE GUARDRAIL COMMON SENSOR PROGRAM
In 1982, while the improved GR-V systems were being completed, a concept began to emerge for an advanced system that integrated other COMINT and electronics intelligence (ELINT) systems with Guardrail. This would be known as the Guardrail Common Sensor (GR/CS). It would combine the Advanced Quicklook (AQL) and the Communications High Accuracy Airborne Location System (CHAALS) with Guardrail to form a corps level signal intelligence system with an integrated platform and a single ground processing facility (R. Sciria, personal communication, August 9, 2001).
Development of the Quicklook ELINT system (the predecessor to AQL) had begun in the early 1970s. With GR/CS, a new generation of Quicklook would be developed that employed the technology known as Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA). This technology utilized triangulation from multiple aircraft to obtain location coordinates for the emanating source of a radio signal. The TDOA capabilities of GR/CS would give the United States a technology advantage over any potential enemy. However, in order to achieve the integration for the GR/CS system, the AQL would require miniaturization due to weight and space limitations. The contractors for the Advanced Quicklook were UTL Corporation in Dallas (for development) and Emerson Electronics and Space Division (ESCO) in St. Louis (for production). The second system that was integrated into GR/CS was the CHAALS precision COMINT location system. This geolocation system for communications emitters utilized both the TDOA technology and Differential Doppler technology, and International Business Machines (IBM) continued as the contractor (CECOM, 1994; Jette, 1996).
The basic operational concept behind GR/CS was to authorize one GR/CS system per aerial exploitation battalion in the military intelligence (MI) brigade of each corps. A standard system would consist of 12 aircraft that would fly operational missions in sets of two or three. The ground processing for GR/CS would be conducted in the integrated processing facility (IPF). The IPF would be the control, data processing, and message center for the overall system. It consisted of four 40-foot trailers with 28 operator stations. Interoperable data links would provide microwave connectivity between each aircraft and the IPF. Reports would then be transmitted to the Commanders Tactical Terminals (CTT). The CTTs would be located at up to 32 designated...
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