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U.S. Air Force plans "summit" on ground tracking
2009-07-07
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Air Force, moving aggressively to beef up intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations, plans a "soup to nuts" review next week of how it tracks moving targets on the ground. Lieutenant General David Deptula, Air Force deputy chief of staff for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, on Monday said he would convene a "summit" of senior Air Force officials about the various weapons that allow U.S. forces to track militants and vehicles on the ground. The move follows the Pentagon's decision last year to cancel a space-based radar program that would have dramatically improved the military's ability to keep track of ground movements, even through bad weather. Lockheed Martin Corp and Northrop Grumman Corp were vying to build the nine-satellite system that was valued at over $30 billion. Funding has also been scaled back in recent years for the Multi-Platform Radar Technology Insertion Program program being developed by Northrop Grumman. The actively electronically scanned array radar is slated to go aboard the new Block 40 version of Northrop's high-altitude Global Hawk unmanned surveillance plane, but delays in testing of the radar have caused a 30-month plus delay in the testing schedule for the new aircraft. Some lawmakers are considering cutting funding further, given the delays, but industry officials say that funding cuts would only exacerbate the delays. Brigadier General Veralinn Jamieson, director of strategy, integration and doctrine, said Air Force officials recently spent a full week trying to better understand the military requirement for tracking of moving objects on the ground. Ultimately, she said they concluded the that what was needed was not only radars, but also video feeds, intercepted communications, and intelligence gathered by other weapons. She said the effort could lead to a formal analysis of alternatives for how best to meet the tracking requirement -- one of many that have seen increased demand in recent years. Space, cyberspace and airborne systems would all see increased demand in coming years, Jamieson said, noting the service was trying to encourage military commanders to look more broadly at their needs and the capabilities that were available, and focus less on specific weapons platforms. "We're in the middle of a cultural shift for the Air Force," Jamieson said. OVERLAPPING CAPABILITIES Defense Secretary Robert Gates had been critical of the Air Force's lack of support for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through unmanned systems, but recently praised a sharp increase in patrols by unmanned spy planes over the region. Deptula said the Air Force first began a drive to improve its intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance work in late 2005, but still struggled with overlapping capabilities fielded by various military services. He said the service had developed an online tool that would let commanders submit detailed lists of requirements and should result in a better overview of needs, capabilities and costs. The database had already identified 129 shortfalls, as well as 900 current capabilities and 2,700 developmental capabilities -- important information as the Air Force began building its budget for the coming years, Jamieson said, noting that much also depended on personnel, training and facilities. Deptula said the service planned to hire 2,500 new analysts who could process the growing amount of data being collected over the next five to six years. "We're going to be swimming in sensors and drowning in data here pretty soon," he said. The service was preparing to launch next year a new wide area airborne surveillance pod that would exponentially increase the amount of video surveillance available to troops on the ground. Within five years, the pods would be generating 3,500 video images simultaneously, up sharply from just 12 provided by Predator unmanned planes in 2007, Deptula said.
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