reconnaissance strategy is provided at 



http://www.uscg.mil/lantarea/iip/FAQ/Reco 



nnOp_10.shtml. 



An IRD was deployed to MP's base 

 of operations in St. John's, Newfoundland 

 for 94 days during the 2003 season (Table 

 1). IIP flew 70 sorties, 28 of which were 

 transit flights to and from St. John's. 

 Thirty-eight sorties were iceberg 

 reconnaissance patrols to determine the 

 southwestern, southern and southeastern 

 LAKI. No research sorties were flown in 

 2003. Four sorties were logistics flights 

 from Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth 

 City to maintain and repair the aircraft. 

 Figure 9 details IIP flight hours for 2003. 



Logistics 

 Hours 



5% 



Table 1. 2003 IRD summary. 



NOTE: Flight hours include patrol and transit hours. 



IRD#5 includes 10 and IRD#8 includes 9.9 logistic hours. 



IIP used 385.8 flight hours in 

 2003, a 19% decrease from 2002 (Figure 

 10). This decrease was partially due to the 

 addition of a patrol decision guide to aid 

 the Tactical Commander. The patrol 

 decision guide, using a point system, 

 placed a given patrol into a 

 green/amber/red model based on aircraft 

 condition, environmental conditions and 



Figure 9. 2003 flight hours. 



patrol area priority. This tool was designed 

 to improve flight hour efficiency (i.e., 

 ensure patrol results were the best 

 possible). Figure 11 compares flight hours 

 with the number of icebergs south of 48°N 

 latitude since 1988. This figure 

 demonstrates that IIP expends a fairly 

 consistent number of flight hours while the 

 number of icebergs varies significantly. A 

 few icebergs can dramatically extend the 

 geographic distribution of the LAKI even 

 with a small number of icebergs passing 

 south of 48°N. IIP is often in the position of 

 having to patrol a large ocean area with 

 widely distributed icebergs. 



Differentiating the various types of 

 targets on the Grand Banks is a continuous 

 challenge for IIP reconnaissance. Visibility 

 is frequently poor and targets are often 

 identified solely from their radar image. 

 Both SLAR and FLAR provide valuable 



Figure 10. Breakdown of flight hours (1999-2003). 



11 



