ENGLAND APPROVES $31 MILLION FOR THREE ARMY PROJECT SHERIFF VEHICLES
January 30, 2006
Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England has approved a measure that will provide the Army with $31.3 million for the integration of lethal and non-lethal Project Sheriff capabilities on three platforms, according to an Army spokesman.
England signed the document Jan. 13 for the Joint Rapid Acquisition Cell initiative which freed up the funds for Spiral 1 integration, the spokesman told Inside the Army last week.
A Pentagon source told ITA Jan. 27 that dollars were pulled from the fiscal year 2006 Iraqi Freedom Fund and England's action memo directed that the capabilities be integrated on either Stryker or Cougar vehicles.
Project Sheriff, developed by the Defense Department's Office of Force Transformation, is an effort to equip warfighters in urban battlefields with a variety of capabilities. It could provide nonlethal capabilities and precision munitions required in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, where warfighters need to preserve buildings and limit civilian casualties, as well as prepare for the enemy's use of non-combatants as shields.
Currently, Project Sheriff is funded via the OFT and the Army Training and Doctrine Command's Futures Center, but officials have been preparing for it to be picked up by the Army or the Marine Corps as a program of record.
To date, a non-deployable Spiral 0 prototype has been assembled on a Stryker at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren, VA, and is undergoing environmental testing, the Pentagon source added.
Nonlethal capabilities incorporated into the Project Sheriff package include: multispectral sensors; a high-power white light; active denial technology developed by Raytheon; the Long Range Acoustic Device developed by American Technology Corporation; the Lazzer Dazzler developed by the Army's night vision lab; and a counter improvised explosive device technology.
The active denial technology evolved from an Energy Department program that places a device that emits millimeter waves on a tripod and places them at the approaches of various facilities. If an unauthorized person approaches the facility, they can be stopped by the millimeter wave energy. The Project Sheriff system is designed to function as a counter-personnel weapon system.
Similar technology is being developed as part of the Defense Department's Joint Nonlethal Weapons Directorate's Active Denial System.
ADS works through a transmitter that produces an energy frequency of 95 GHz and an antenna to direct an invisible beam at a human target. Once the energy reaches the subject, the light beam penetrates the skin by less than 1/64th of an inch. Within seconds, the target experiences an intolerable heating sensation (ITA, Sept. 20, 2004, p1).
Though ADS and the technology in Project Sheriff are similar in functionality there are notable differences, according to Hall. Project Sheriff's active denial technology will weigh significantly less then ADS, and it will also have fewer components, reduced signature size and a shorter range.
Additionally, officials have selected a counter-IED technology called the "mobile multi-band jammer" to provide protection against remotely activated explosives, according to Marine Corps Col. Wade Hall, an OFT strategist.
Complementing Project Sheriff's nonlethal capabilities will be an Israeli active protection system called Trophy and the "Gunslinger."
Trophy, an APS system designed to detect, track and defeat rocket-propelled grenade or tank rounds, was designed in Israel by an industry consortium headed by Rafael, and marketed by General Dynamics Land Systems.
Gunslinger, under development by the Naval Surface Warfare Center, uses acoustic and infrared sensors to identify a sniper. Then, at the discretion of the operator, a manual or automatic mode is used to return fire.
During a July 2005 information day on the initiative, Hall explained how the system could operate in an urban environment (ITA, Aug. 1, 2005, p1).
By combining the lethal and nonlethal technologies on a vehicle, Hall said a warfighter would be able to discriminate the noncombatants from insurgents by first employing the nonlethal capabilities and then progressing to the use of lethal force.
For example, if a convoy led by a Project Sheriff vehicle was moving through an urban area, a crowd may form to divert the convoy into an "ambush zone," according to Hall.
If this were to happen, the first thing the crowd would hear is the Long Range Acoustic Device either telling the crowd to move or giving off a noise that would "bother their hearing." Next, the Lazzer Dazzler would scan the crowd looking for a flicker from the scope of a possible sniper.
If the crowd was still in place, troops would employ the active denial technology.
"If they try and deflect beams then we will kill them because we know what their intentions are," Hall said. "Now I know what your intent is. I just told you to move, I just flashed some light in you that said 'hey get away from me.' I just put some effect on you that said 'please move or its going to get worse' and you continue to tell me that you have an ill intent for me and my fellow Marines. So now I will bring some lethal force to bear if it satisfies my [rules of engagement]."
In an April 7, 2005, memo, Army Brig. Gen. James Huggings, the chief of staff for the Multi-National Corps-Iraq, asked the Joint Chiefs of Staff to approve funding for the "time critical" material release, fielding and sustainment of the "Full-Spectrum Effects Weapon Systems," the technical name for Project Sheriff vehicles (ITA, May 30, 2005, p2).
"This will allow operating forces to exploit the psychological dilemma of adversaries who are faced with advanced precision capabilities having multiple effects mechanism that are collectively more challenging to protect against," Huggins wrote. "This will serve to transfer the difficulties of operational complexity to the enemy, helping to allow MNC-I forces to regain the initiative in fourth generation warfare."
Huggins proposes the Army receive eight vehicles -- four for the 18th Military Police Brigade and four for the 42nd Military Police Brigade -- and the Marines receive six.
In an April 19, 2005, response to Huggins, Marine Corps Maj. Gen. John Castellaw, chief of staff for U.S. Central Command, said the request for 14 Project Sheriff vehicles was fully supported by CENTCOM -- Ashley Roque |
