The Defense Department is trying to balance a mismatched and expensive intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) force as it moves into a future of tightening budgets and high requirements for data, according to the Air Force’s top officer.
“One of the things we’ve got to do is make sure we clearly know as we move forward: what is the requirement and who is going to pursue it,” Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh said Wednesday at the Aspen Security Forum in Aspen, Colo. “We’re looking at what is the best bang for the buck in the future for ISR for all combatant commanders, not just for direct support for a maneuver unit on the ground.”
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| Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh. Photo: Air Force. |
DoD’s ISR force became unbalanced over the last decade, Welsh said, as the Pentagon’s fast growing demand for nascent ISR data forced it to think on the fly. He said the Air Force currently is responsible for strategic and theater level ISR while the Army, Navy and Marine Corps all build organic capabilities to support their maneuver units.
But Welsh said the Air Force wasn’t asked to build that theater-level ISR until it was in the middle of conflict, causing it to fall behind requirements and rush to catch up to speed.
“We’re trying to balance that right now,” Welsh said. “I completely understand it’s not where it needs to be, but it might not ever be if just the Air Force is providing it to the unit level. That’s really not the only role we play, it’s not what the combatant commanders look to us for everywhere outside of Afghanistan today, and that’s the balance we’re trying to walk.”
Welsh said the Air Force is flying 60-plus orbits of remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) in the Middle East, adding to a total of 1,200 hours of full motion video per day. Welsh said the first 21 RPA orbits the Air Force flew in 2006 cost $55 billion.
“The cost is not insignificant,” Welsh said. “The ISR capability this country brings is phenomenal, (but) the requirement is (more phenomenal).”