Air Force leaders describe plan to improve ISR capabilities

Air Force leaders on Monday outlined the service's "flight plan" to acquire intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities to counter threats on the battlefield, in space and cyberspace during the next 20 years.

The plan is the latest in a series of steps the service has taken since late 2005 to bolster ISR capabilities and create a more responsive organization capable of providing combat commanders with the necessary resources.

At the heart of the plan is an interactive database, transparent to all users, that incorporates input from the joint-service combatant commands as well as the Air Force major commands. Through a collaborative process that engages industry and academia as well as the other services and battlefield commanders, the Air Force plans to refine ISR requirements to better support warfighters, said Brig. Gen. Veralinn Jamieson, director of strategy, integration and doctrine for the Air Force deputy chief of staff for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.

The new approach represents "a fundamental cultural change for the Air Force," Jamieson said. Instead of focusing on specific weapons platforms and how they might be upgraded, the service is focusing on capabilities.

Technology alone will not meet the gaps in capability the Air Force seeks to fill, she said. The new approach provides a process for evaluating doctrine, training, leadership, personnel, facilities and policy.

For example, it has become clear in recent years that the Air Force needed far more intelligence analysts to evaluate the flood of data and images ISR assets are gathering on the battlefield. So Air Force senior leaders have approved changes that would shift 2,500 personnel from elsewhere within the service to new positions devoted to handling the data.

As the United States redoubles its efforts to defeat insurgents in Afghanistan, the changes in how the Air Force is approaching this issue are making a difference on the ground, said Lt. Gen. David Deptula, deputy chief of staff for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.

For example, as part of the service's more focused ISR efforts, the Air Force has been the proponent for remotely operated video enhanced receiver technology, known as ROVER, ground troops use to view video images captured by unmanned aerial systems in real time. The latest version of ROVER, ROVER 5, developed by L-3 Communications, is a small handheld device that relays high-resolution, full-motion video, which makes the tool much more useful to the Marines and soldiers who rely on the surveillance images captured by drones.

For decades, the Air Force aimed to be able to strike any target at any time, Deptula said. "We can do that. Now the issue is, 'What do you want to accomplish?' To answer that, combat commanders will need better intelligence, he said.

CORRECTION: The original story referred to an incorrect version of remotely operated video enhanced receiver technology, known as ROVER.