Effective and Efficient Use of US Air Force Airborne Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) and How to Meet Combatant Commander Requirements

Abstract

The effective use of airborne ISR has been debated for several years. Since Desert Storm, the majority of airborne ISR platforms have been dedicated to Central Command's (CENTCOM) theater of operation. While the other theaters have legitimate intelligence targets to be monitored and pursued, CENTCOM has been the priority. This paper examines how ISR has been used in different theaters, how ISR assets are allocated to the combatant commands, improvements made in how ISR platforms operate, and recommendations on how the platforms can be used more effectively. The Air Force must seek training opportunities with ground forces before Army and Marine units deploy to foster a basic understanding of how ISR platforms can support them, as well as ISR operators learning what information ground forces want. This needs to start within the United States military services, but the education piece needs to happen with coalition partners too. Establishing a level of trust and understanding before ground forces deploy will enable success for real-time ISR operations.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Feb 01, 2009
Accession Number
ADA540221

Entities

People

  • John M. Harrison

Organizations

  • Air War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • C4I

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Aircrafts
  • Airframes
  • Combatant Commanders
  • Command And Control
  • Military Force Levels
  • Military Science
  • National Security
  • Radar
  • Reconnaissance
  • Signals Intelligence
  • Surveillance
  • Unified Combatant Commands
  • Unmanned Aerial Systems
  • Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Geospatial Intelligence and Artificial Intelligence Analytics
  • Joint Military Operations and Doctrine.