The layering of airborne ISR forces maximizes the accuracy and timeliness of information and is more important than ever to air power, according to a new report.
Layering ISR Forces, released Jan. 17 by the Mitchell Institute for Airpower Studies, reemphasizes the importance of airborne ISR forces, such as the Boeing [BA] RC-135 or the Northrop Grumman [NOC] RQ-4 Global Hawk, during a time of difficult budget circumstances.
The report was authored by Michael Isherwood, a retired Air Force colonel who currently works for Northrop Grumman, where he focuses on military air and space operational developments, according to the report.
Isherwood said during a presentation of the report at the Mitchell Institute airborne ISR is relevant because if you have bad information, nothing else matters.
“In an air campaign, the lethal end of it, the humanitarian aspect of an air campaign, nothing happens if you don’t know where the good guys are going to be, the non-combatants are going to be, where you need to get the desired effects,” Isherwood said. “It’s all driven by the information that you have.”
One key table in the report shows trends in Air Force structure over the past decade. For fiscal year 2009, the table shows 2,265 fighters, 854 transport aircraft, 478 tankers, 163 bombers and 323 ISR forces. Although the ISR forces only comprised 7.9 percent of total force structure in FY ’09, they increased at a rate of 288 percent over the decade, from 112 in FY ’00 to 323 in FY ’09.
The report says layering ISR assets provides precise data: Where (geo-location), when (timing) and accuracy (speed, signal type, characterization, picture, etc).
Isherwood said Air Force ISR forces are challenged to provide accurate and timely strategic warning for developing events and provide detailed, tactical information to guide immediate options. Layering these ISR forces, ranging from human intelligence (HUMINT), signals intelligence (SIGINT) and airborne or ground Moving Target Intelligence (MTI) helps build a “mosaic of information.”
Isherwood highlighted how the total number of Air Force airborne ISR units has dropped dramatically since the Cold War, but have increased since the acceleration of the global war on terror. The fundamentals of theater warfare have changed so much since 1975, he said, when the military was facing fixed targets and attack plans and a focused and limited battlefield. Fast forward to post-2000, and targets are mobile with dynamic attack plans and a dispersed and expanded battlefield, he added. Fast forward to 2012, Isherwood said, and data storage, retrieval and integration will be crucial.