By Marina Malenic
Top Defense Department officials last week highlighted bolstering irregular warfare capabilities as a top priority for both the Air Force and the military as a whole in the upcoming budget cycle.
Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn, speaking at the IFPA-Fletcher national security conference on Jan. 20, said the Pentagon will continue to redirect resources to give irregular warfare “full institutionalization” in the U.S. military.
“Our dominance in conventional warfare has led adversaries to seek new avenues to challenge us, particularly, asymmetric and anti-access tactics,” he told a military and industry audience. “Insurgents wield [improvised explosive devices] that can penetrate even the most heavily defended armor; terrorists and rogue nations are seeking weapons of mass destruction.”
David Ochmanek, the department’s deputy assistant secretary for force development, said earlier in the week that the Obama administration believes the U.S. military will continue in the coming years to confront the kinds of “insurgent threats” it has faced in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Along with the president’s Fiscal Year 2011 budget proposal next month will come the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR), which will outline the administration’s defense strategy. Ochmanek said the QDR continues to emphasize Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ conviction that irregular capabilities must be given greater weight when making military purchasing priorities.
“These capabilities will be needed for some time into the future,” Ochmanek said. “And they will need to get better over time.”
He added that, at the same time, the new study does not give “high end,” or conventional, warfare short shrift. Ochmanek listed rotary-wing and surveillance aircraft as just two high-end capabilities that would be well funded.
He also said that the QDR analysis predicts that the military will face “heavy jamming” of satellites in the coming years. Ochmanek said industry must continue developing aircraft that could serve as temporary backup systems in such instances.
After irregular warfare capabilities, Pentagon’s next most important weapons acquisition priority is the Lockheed Martin [LMT] F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, according to Lynn, who defended the program from recent criticism for cost overruns and test schedule delays. He said the program would provide the Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy a tactical advantage over adversaries that are increasingly technologically savvy.
“Using readily available technology, potential adversaries are improving radars, sensors, jammers and weapons,” he said. “To give our air and ground forces the freedom of movement that our air superiority underwrites, we are heavily investing in the F-35.”
Third on the list, according to Lynn, is development of a deep-penetrating strike capability capable of dodging the kinds of more advanced air defense systems many countries are now able to develop or purchase. Echoing recent comments from other Pentagon officials, Lynn said the department is looking to upgrade and develop a “family of systems” for the mission instead of purchasing just one new bomber aircraft fleet.
“The long-range strike mission today is more fraught with challenges than it has been in memory,” he said. “We’re learning that there is not a single solution to our needs, so we will be maturing a portfolio of capabilities–manned and unmanned, penetrating and stand-off, ballistic and cruise.”
Finally, Lynn said development of a redundant and more survivable space infrastructure remains high on the Pentagon’s list of aerospace acquisition priorities.