Читать книгу Reaper Force - Inside Britain's Drone Wars - Peter Lee M. - Страница 7

9-LINE A series of nine confirmations and checks, and the legal approval, that make up the authorisation to carry out a weapon strike, and includes the location and identity of the target, and the weapon choice

AIRFRAME The structural elements of an aircraft, including the fuselage, wings and undercarriage, but excluding the engine. RAF personnel sometimes use ‘airframe’ interchangeably with ‘aircraft’

AUTH Authorising Officer. Supervises Reaper crews and operations from the Squadron Operations Room

BDA Battle damage assessment

BUDDY LASE When two aircraft and crews work together to strike a target – one aircraft fires a laser-guided missile or bomb, while a second uses its laser-guidance system to ensure that the weapon hits the target that the laser is ‘lighting up’

CAO Casualty Assistance Officer

CAOC Combined Air Operations Centre

CASEVAC Casualty evacuation

CAT Flying category (e.g. Combat Ready)

CDE Collateral damage estimate

CIVCAS Civilian casualties

CNO Casualty Notification Officer

CRM Crew resource management. The sharing out of responsibilities and tasks between the three crew members

COMMS Communications. Commonly by radio, electronic signal or secure military internet

CPL Corporal

DICKING The observation of military personnel and movements by, usually, low-level, unarmed enemy called ‘dickers’ (in Afghanistan they would often be young boys). The term was used in Northern Ireland and referred to junior, or would-be, paramilitary members

EOD Explosive Ordinance Disposal

FAST JET A generic British military term that refers to highspeed, jet-propelled, air-to-air fighter aircraft or fighter-bomber aircraft.

FMV Full motion video

FOB Forward Operating Base

GBU Guided Bomb Unit. The Reaper carries two 500lb GBU-12 laser-guided bombs

GCAS Ground close air support

GCS Ground Control Station

HME Home-made explosive

HVT High-value target. For example, an important Taliban figure

IED Improvised explosive device

IN THE BOX In the Ground Control Station, a shipping container-sized metal box

IS Islamic State

ISAF International Security Assistance Force, the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan

ISR Intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance

ISTAR Intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance

JTAC Joint Terminal Attack Controller. The person who directs offensive air operations, including close air support, typically from a forward position on the ground or from a Combined Air Operations Centre

KINETIC STRIKE A missile or bomb strike

LASING Using a laser beam to mark or ‘light up’ a target for a laser-guided missile or bomb strike

LCPL Lance Corporal

LRE Launch and Recovery Element – the crew based near the operating area who launch the Reaper and land it at the end of the mission, by remote control. In between take-off and landing, control is transferred electronically so that it is then piloted via satellite link by someone in the UK or USA

MATCH EYES To train the Reaper camera on a target or area that is already being watched by another surveillance aircraft

MCE Mission Control Element

MEDEVAC Medical evacuation

MIC Mission Intelligence Coordinator

NOTAM Notice to Airmen – a standard, internationally recognised method of warning aircrew of mandatory areas to avoid and potential risks in the area where they are planning to fly

OFF DRY To pull out of a bomb or missile run without releasing a weapon

OVERWATCH To fly above friendly forces on the ground, looking out for threats and using weapons to protect those forces if necessary. Ground forces can also conduct overwatch, with one group of soldiers or marines observing as their colleagues manoeuvre into position

PAX Passengers

PID Positive identification, usually of a combatant target

PLATFORM An aircraft, which can be manned or remotely piloted, plus all of its capabilities

POL Pattern of life, built up through intelligence gathering and surveillance

PTSD Post-traumatic stress disorder

QWI Qualified Weapons Instructor

RAR Remedial Action Report

RCDFCIED Remote Control Directional Fragmentation Charge Improvised Explosive Device

RCH Red Card Holder – the UK’s RCH holds and provides operational and legal authority for a weapon strike that has been delegated from the Secretary of State for Defence, via the Air Component Commander in the CAOC

ROE Rules of Engagement – the legal framework that dictates when, where and how lethal force can and cannot be used

RPAS(P) Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (Pilot) – the official designation of someone recruited and trained to pilot an RAF Reaper, who was not previously a pilot on another type of aircraft

SAFETY OBSERVER An experienced Reaper crew member, or instructor, who is brought into the GCS in the build-up to a missile or bomb strike

SANGAR A fortified position

SAR Synthetic aperture radar

SMIC Senior Mission Intelligence Coordinator. Supervises Reaper missions alongside the Authorising Officer in the Squadron Operations Room

SO Sensor Operator, who controls the various cameras and other sensing equipment, and who laser-guides missiles and bombs onto targets

TECHNICAL Flat-bed truck with a large weapon bolted or welded onto the back; used as highly mobile light artillery

TIC Troops In Contact

TRIM Trauma risk management – peer-to-peer psychological support system intended to reduce the impacts of traumatic events

USAF United States Air Force

VBIED Vehicle-borne improvised explosive device

VOIED Victim-operated improvised explosive device

WEAPON OFF THE RAIL When a missile has been fired or a bomb dropped from an aircraft