AIR DEFENSE FORCE MULTIPLIER CONCEPT

IN MAY OF 1984, THE ARMY AND AIR FORCE JOINTLY ADOPTED A NEW DOCTRINE CALLED THE AIRLAND BATTLE CONCEPT. IN ADDITION TO OTHER REQUIREMENTS, THIS DOCTRINE CALLED FOR THE EXPANSION OF THE BATTLE SPACE AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF AUTONOMOUS AND SEMI-AUTONOMOUS WEAPON SYSTEMS. IN A RELATED DEVELOPMENT, NATO ADOPTED THE "FOLLOW-ON-FORCES-ATTACK" (FOFA) CONCEPT WHICH SEEKS TO APPLY CURRENT AND EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES TO EXTEND THE BATTLE SPACE TOWARD THE ENEMY REAR. IF SUCCESSFULLY IMPLEMENTED, THIS DOCTRINE WOULD BE A POWERFUL COUNTER TO THE SOVIET OPERATIONAL MANUEVER GROUP (OMG) AS WELL AS SEVERELY DISRUPTIVE TO THE HIGHLY ORGANIZED ORDER OF BATTLE NECESSARY FOR A WARSAW PACT BLITZKRIEG. IN KEEPING WITH BOTH THE AIRLAND AND THE FOFA CONCEPTS, SEVERAL NEW SYSTEMS AND CONCEPTS HAVE BEEN PROPOSED (E.G. DEMON) AND SOME ARE IN ENGINEERING DEVELOPMENT (E.G. SADARM). THIS PROPOSAL IS FOR THE STUDY AND ASSESSMENT OF A NEW CONCEPT NAMED STAND OFF AIR DEFENDER (SOAD) AND DEFINITION OF ITS CRITICAL ATTRIBUTES. THE SOAD WOULD CONSIST OF ONE OR MORE AIR-TO-AIR MISSILES MOUNTED IN AN RPV. ITS PURPOSE WOULD BE TO SEEK OUT ENEMY AIRBORNE ASSETS AND DESTROY THEM. THE SOAD WOULD BE CONTROLLED FROM A REMOTE SITE EITHER ON THE GROUND OR IN THE AIR. AS THE SOAD SYSTEM WOULD HAVE BOTH AN AUTONOMOUS AND A SEMI-AUTONOMOUS MODE, EACH CONTROL SITE COULD HANDLE A LARGE NUMBER OF SOAD'S. IN ADDITION, BY UTILIZING THE AUTONOMOUS MODE, A SOAD COULD CONTINUE ITS MISSION EVEN IF ITS CONTROL CENTER WERE DESTROYED.