combatreform.org/grasshoppersmustreturn.htm

1. Joint Attack Pathfinder Maneuver Air Support Teams
2005

2. To prepare for the fast-moving battlefield situations of WW2, the
German Army had WW1 Ace Fieseler design a small, light fixed-wing
airplane that could land without need of runways to co-locate itself
with their blitzkrieg tank forces (panzers). The Fi-156 “Storch” to this
day is a remarkable plane that can take off in under 150 feet and land
in under 50, the world’s first STOL aircraft! The Fi-156’s wings could
fold so it could be towed on a trailer or using its own landing gear.
Fi-156s were so great they were built after the war, too! The 3,000
German Fi-156s gave Rommel a birds’ eye view of his battles, saved
downed pilots, rescued Mussolini in a commando raid, flew wounded
men back to hospitals, in desert, mud, snow...
Fi-156 Storch
F-8 Bearcat
After the war, the French built Fi-156s and towed folding wing
fighter-bombers into action in Indo-China for air support

3. U.S. Army realized Fi-156 STOL liaison
craft were vital; purchased thousands
of STOL planes “grasshoppers” found
L-4 Piper Cub the enemy directed arty/air strikes,
medevaced wounded Soldiers; could
land anywhere…Patton thought
about crossing Rhine using hundreds
On roads
On dirt trails
On grassy fields

4. During WW2, Korea and Vietnam, U.S. Army/marine forces had light liaison
aircraft that could be co-located with them on the ground with folding wings and
could be towed by trucks (today UAVs move by trailer), were very simple to
maintain to fly continuously overhead and report back enemy activities for
artillery barrages, aircraft strikes and their own decisive “Maneuver Air Support”
(MAS) with light weaponry before enemy could flee; Cessna (L-19) O-1 Bird
Dog light plane could take off and land in a football field but was slow (100 mph),
unarmored, poorly armed to defend self..
U.S. Army Dark Shadow UAVs are transported by trailers
but are unarmed to do anything about what they view
Here an Army Grasshopper plane is put on back of a truck and
taken to a ship where it will launch off a small deck for the invasion
of North Africa
Major Strong’s excellent account of Bird Dogs
in Vietnam War: www.strongware.com/23

5. Bird Dog replacement: OV-1 Mohawks can short-take-off and
land under 1,000 feet like O-1 but faster (300 mph), armed &
armored: the ultimate “Grasshopper” MAS aircraft for
modern, non-linear battlefields!
Mohawks were so successful they were taken from the tactical troops and
made into theater surveillance platforms flown from rear area air bases;
helicopters are difficult to keep flying, noisy, slow; UAVs lack peripheral
vision and investigative instinct = result U.S. troops no longer have
Maneuver Air Support under their operational control!

6. Any flat surface at least 1800 feet long, allows the MAS
OV-1 Mohawks to land & take off, to be co-located with
ground maneuver units and to act as liaison with
supported ground units--direct coordination insures
understanding
Real World Imagery from Iraq
Note: Landing distance is based on no reverse thrust and zero headwind. Actual distances may vary
from 800 to 2400 feet based on temperature, D.A., runway surface, and aircraft weight.

7. OV-1 Mohawks are designed to be operated from field environment to be
responsive to troops and remain overhead continuously
This easy-to-maintain MAS capability is yet to be fully exploited!

8. Attack: Human Airborne Forward Air Controllers (AFACs)
in OV-1 Mohawks have excellent visibility to investigate
signs of enemy activity and down-link live video imagery to
Pathfinders below who can coordinate air strikes and/or
ground maneuver from M113 Gavin light tracked armored
fighting vehicles

9. As video imagery is fed down to Ground FAC Pathfinders
below; objects of interest can be safely investigated by
human observers in the air before lethal fires are bought to
bear: preventing fratricide
“I see a suspicious bus on your video feed, should you attack it?”

10. “Negative. Its CNN”

11. “We see a mortar in a
courtyard!”
“Engage! Its not ours!”

12. Attack Element can hit enemies
before they can run since OV-1
carries light armaments; can also
direct GFAC Pathfinders to laser
target designate for other strike
aircraft with heavier ordnance to
be brought to bear…air helps
those on ground and ground
helps air = TEAMWORK!

13. Other Capabilities: Mohawks can drop supply pods to units in need
of ammunition, food, water, radios, and medical items with great
precision…can fight way through enemy opposition to sustain our
men. During Army 3rd ID’s “Thunder Run” into Baghdad this could
have helped greatly...
New Boeing
Phantom Works
JPOD

14. Boeing Phantom Work’s JPOD precision glide/parachute
delivery of weapons, supplies and/or Exfiltration Vehicles to
Isolated Personnel Partial and Full Recovery Option

15. Chuck Warren’s CopterBox disposable airdrop resupply
A B C
. . .
CopterBox:
A. Kit
B. Rigged
C. Autorotative
descent
Low-Cost!
Less than $400 per
box
www.dropmaster.com

16. Mohawks can also carry personnel pods to rapidly evacuate casualties or
insert/extract Special Forces Commandos
EXINT pod by AVPRO in England

17. ANTI-UAV: Mohawks can fly continuously to be in position to hunt down
and destroy low-flying enemy UAVs to deny enemy the ability to spy on us.
Humans are needed in the loop to insure friendly drones are not
accidentally downed
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050411/wl_nm/lebanon_israel_dc_3
Hizbollah Flies Drone Over Northern Israel
Mon Apr 11, 4:47 PM ET
By Hussein Saad
TYRE, Lebanon (Reuters) - Lebanon's Hizbollah guerrillas flew an unmanned surveillance drone over northern Israel on Monday, the
group and the Israeli army said."In response to repeated and continuous enemy violations of Lebaneseairspace, the surveillance plane
Mersad 1 carried out a ]reconnaissance mission in the skies of occupied northern Palestine, flying over several Zionist colonies," a
Hizbollah statement said.The flight at 5.15 p.m.(1015 EDT) flew as far south as Acre on the Israelicoast, the statement said.Israeli
security sources said the small aircraft flew for several minutes over Israeli territory and then returned to Lebanon before Israeli aircraft
could intercept it."A short while ago, a UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle)flown by the Hizbollah terrorist organization flew over western
Galilee in Israeli territory," an Israeli military spokeswoman said in Jerusalem.Witnesses said Israeli warplanes broke the sound barrier
over the southern Lebanese port city of Tyre and a nearby Palestinian refugee camp just after Hizbollah announced the flight.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which monitors the border between Israel and Lebanon, said it was checking
the report. "There have been a few violations by drones and jets today," a UNIFIL spokesman said. A senior Israeli airforce official
voiced concern that Hizbollah had sent the aircraft to escalate tensions along Israel's border with Lebanon while Syria was
withdrawing its forces from Lebanon after U.S.-led pressure."It is an attempt to harass us and send a message that Hizbollah is still
there," the official told Reuters.
"Hizbollah is aiming for massive disruptions ... Hizbollah understands that Syria's move away (from Lebanon) is a chance to shore up
its agenda to fight (Israel)," he said.The U.N. Security Council in September called on Hizbollah, backed by Syria and Iran, to disarm.
Hizbollah said in November it had flown a small reconnaissance drone into Israel for the first time in response to repeated Israeli
violations of Lebanese airspace. Hizbollah said the November flight had taken photos of Israeli towns and returned safely to base. But
witnesses said they saw a drone crash into the sea. The United Nations said in January it was gravely concerned about a flare-up of
violence between the Jewish state and Hizbollah, which wants to drive Israeli forces from the disputed Shebaa Farms border area.
Syria, Lebanon and Hizbollah say the area is Lebanese. The United Nations says it is Syrian land. Hizbollah was one of the main
forces behind Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000.

18. www.strategypage.com/dls/articles/2004111220.asp
James Dunnigan reports:
The Lebanese based terrorist group Hizbollah took credit for a small UAV that came down
Israelis Mediterranean coast on November 7th, flew over an Israeli town for 15 minutes and then
flew back into Lebanon. Hizbollah called their UAV "Mirsad 1", but it was probably an Iranian
Ababil. The Iranians have been developing UAVs for nearly a decade. Their Ababil is a 183
pound UAV with a ten foot wing span, a payload of about 80 pounds, a cruising speed of 290
kilometers an hour and an endurance of 90 minutes. The Ababil is known to operate as far as
120 kilometers from its ground controller. but it also has a guidance system that allows it to fly a
pre-programmed route and then return to the control by its ground controllers for a landing
(which is by parachute). The Ababil can carry a variety of day and night still and video cameras.
There are many inexpensive and very capable cameras available on the open market, as is the
equipment needed to transmit video and pictures back to the ground. The Israeli air defense
organization was embarrassed by this undetected UAV flight. In 1987, a Hizbollah commando
flew undetected into northern Israel using an ultralight vehicle (somewhat larger
than the Ababil), landed near a military camp, and killed six soldiers before he
was killed. This led to the air defense system in northern Israel being upgraded
to prevent that sort of thing happening again. Since then, the Israelis have
detected other ultralights and small aircraft trying to enter Israel, and have stopped
them. But during the November 7th flight, the UAV moved at an altitude of under
300 feet, and was the smallest aircraft the Israelis have had to deal with so far.
Nevertheless, the Israeli air defenses were apparently supposed to be capable
of spotting something like an Ababil UAV.

19. OV-1 Mohawk Towing Parameters: once on the ground,
they don’t need airbases; can be parked alongside tactical
ground vehicles until needed…troops always have MAS
48 feet
22 feet
10 feet
12 feet 12 feet
Standard Highways have 12 foot wide lanes

20. Proposed OV-1 Mohawk wings folded on trailer enhancement
At Fort Hood, Texas
Mohawks were
5 foot overhang towed when flight
ops were not planned
onto opposite and they needed to be
lane if only line close to ground units
separated still
leaves 7 feet to
pass
5 foot overhang
over road shoulder
Lead convoy vehicles
screen vehicles
ahead like when
moving a double-wide
motor home

21. o ds Snow Aviation International, Inc.
ft M
7201 Paul Tibbets St.
cra Rickenbacker International Airport
Air Columbus, OH 43217-1204
Phone: (614) 492-7669
FAX: (614) 492-7679
E-MAIL: snow@snowaviation.com

22. Joint Attack Pathfinder Team Attack Element
Driver Gunner Chief
Pilot Observer
mechanic mechanic mechanic Pathfinder Element
Driver TC/Leader GFAC GFAC
Driver TC/AsstL GFAC GFAC

23. Joint Attack Pathfinder MAS Teams
Operational prototype acquisition costs
Purchase 2 x OV-1s fr/ USAF AMARC $150K
Refurbish to flight status $200K
FLIR/Electro-optical sensors $600K
IRCM, Chaff, rockets, gunpods GFE
High-Mobility Trailers $50K
XM1108 Gavin prime movers $400K
2 x M113A3 Gavin GFAC TAFVs $200K
2 x Laser designators GFE
2 x Air/Ground Radio systems GFE
Folding Wing Modifications* $4.935M
(includes one time R&D costs)
Contract staff for 2 years $400K
_______________________________________
TOTAL $6.945M
*Follow-on folding wing conversions will cost less, approximately $500K per aircraft

24. Joint Attack Pathfinder MAS Teams
Operations costs
The costs for maintaining the aircraft, supplying spare parts,
conducting flight testing for new capabilities (e.g. wing-mounted
litters) is going to be much greater. Figure on a contractor-supplied
work force of four pilots, four observers (will probably be uniformed
and no cost), four crew chief/maintenance (airframe, armament,
avionics, engine), etc.
For a two year period, we estimate this at:
Crew $800K/year
Maintenance/op costs $400K/year
Spare Parts PLL $1.5M Initial cost
$500K/year thereafter
Total $2.7M first year, $1.7M second year

25. Any Questions?