The ISR Rebalance

Sept. 18, 2013 | By Marc V. Schanz

While the Air Force continues building toward 65 combat air patrols of MQ-1/MQ-9 remotely piloted aircraft—currently there are 62—the head of the service’s intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance enterprise believes that this force already should evolve. “We have a force that has grown up in permissive environments,” Lt. Gen. Robert Otto, the Air Staff’s ISR chief, told attendees on Tuesday at AFA’s 2013 Air and Space Conference in National Harbor, Md. While the current fleet has performed well, there has been an over-investment in “permissive ISR assets,” said Otto, who sees the need for a more balanced ISR fleet to also support operations in contested airspace. The Air Force’s forthcoming “RPA Vector” document will provide much more detail as to the service’s direction for seeking these capabilities, he said.

Related Content

US Steps Up Intelligence Flights for Border Mission with RC-135 and P-8 Spy Planes

Feb. 4, 2025
The U.S. military is carrying out intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions along the southern border and off the coast of Mexico using U.S. Air Force RC-135 Rivet Joint and U.S. Navy P-8 Poseidon aircraft as part of the Pentagon’s effort to secure the southern border at the direction of President…

Air and Missile Defense for the US Is an Absolute Imperative

Feb. 4, 2025
If there is anything we’ve learned from the conflicts in Ukraine and Israel—and the growing threats from China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea—it is that massed air and missile attacks are now a fundamental component of modern warfare. This puts our U.S. homeland at risk. 

New Pentagon Report: F-35 Test Progress Slow, Readiness Below Par

Feb. 3, 2025
The F-35 fighter program continues to struggle with meeting test milestones and mission readiness goals, but progress is being made on both fronts, according to the latest report from the Pentagon’s test director and comments from the Joint Program Office and Lockheed Martin.

Air Force Equal Opportunity Programs Not Included in DEI Purge

Feb. 3, 2025
The Air Force is not shutting down its equal opportunity programs, it said in a new memo, distinguishing them from the department’s sweeping review of diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. Acting Assistant Secretary for Manpower and Reserve Affairs Gwendolyn Defilippi wrote that she was issuing the Jan. 30 memo as…

Not 10 Feet Tall: Experts Say China’s Military Faces Major Issues

Jan. 31, 2025
While U.S. defense officials have spent much of the past decade warning that China is the nation’s pacing threat and its People’s Liberation Army represents an urgent threat in the Indo-Pacific, several defense researchers are skeptical that the PLA has the human capital, the structural ability, or the political appetite…

Air Force Wargames for a Summer of Major Exercises

Jan. 31, 2025
Air Force wargamers gathered in Alabama earlier this month to help leaders prepare for a sweeping series of exercises this summer that will be among the biggest in recent service history. At the heart of the exercise series is Resolute Force Pacific, but officials want to integrate REFORPAC with other exercises.