The Air Force oversaw the explosion of investment in intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance platforms, like the MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper remotely piloted aircraft, over the last decade to feed the appetites for full-motion video and other sensor data to support operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. But more not enough attention has been given to how those assets are integrated and leveraged, asserts a new paper from AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Airpower Studies. Unveiling Layering ISR Forces (caution, large-sized file) during a presentation on Monday in Arlington, Va., author Michael Isherwood said the future holds the prospect for a far broader range of operations spanning from low-intensity conflicts to countering high-end adversaries with advanced cyber capabilities and with no guarantee that the Air Force will rule the skies unchallenged. Accordingly, Isherwood called for the better integration and exploitation of a wide range of intelligence products—from human intelligence to signals and electronic intelligence. He also advocated finding new tools and organizational concepts to exploit the “layered” intelligence picture as a whole in a combat environment. Isherwood is a Northrop Grumman analyst and retired USAF colonel.
Multiple B-21s are undergoing ground tests and being prepared to join the two aircraft now in test flight, and the Northrop Grumman is negotiating with the Air Force about how expanded production for the bomber could be accomplished, president and CEO Kathy Warden said Oct. 21. She also suggested a…
