General discusses ISR at congressional breakfast

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. J.G. Buzanowski
  • Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs
WASHINGTON (AFNEWS) --  At a breakfast on Capitol Hill April 27, the Air Force deputy chief of staff for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance addressed members of Congress, their staffers, and other civilian and Air Force leaders about the future of the ISR mission.

The conference, second in a series of Air Force defense strategy seminars planned this year, was an important one, according to Lt. Gen. David Deptula, the guest speaker. He discussed the Air Force's current and future ISR capabilities and how the Department of Defense can move to the "next level of joint operations" with unmanned aerial vehicles.

"We've spent the last century learning how to strike an enemy," General Deptula said. "Now, the challenge is to determine what kind of effect we want, against whom and where."

Air Force ISR is how "we make that happen," the general said. For example, in a strike against a high-value target last year, the MQ-1 Predator performed 600 hours against that target before F-16 Falcons flew the 10 minutes to drop their munitions.

That event, and others like it, have led some to debate whether intelligence begets operations or operations create intelligence, General Deptula said, but the fact is that "intelligence is operations," he emphasized.

"We need to ferret out enemies who are deceptive and elusive, and ISR is the capability the joint force commander is looking for," he told the crowd.

More to the point, commanders want capabilities, not necessarily a specific platform, to make informed decisions about operations, General Deptula said.

"In addition to UAVs, full-spectrum capabilities are what makes the F-22 so effective," he said. "Commanders can make robust use of all its functions, not just air-to-air. It also can perform air-to-ground missions and even work as an ISR platform. There's no place it can't go."

The general also addressed the UAV executive agent issue currently brewing in DoD.

In March, Air Force Chief of Staff, T. Michael Moseley submitted a proposal to the other service chiefs and combatant commanders that the Air Force be named executive agent for medium- and high-altitude UAVs to achieve greater effectiveness in the acquisitions process of these systems.

"We don't need duplication of effort by the Services," General Deptula said. "As executive agent, DoD can harness the Air Force's proven success and experience over the last ten years in operating UAVs. This will save money--by streamlining and consolidating purchasing efforts--and is the best thing for DoD, as well as the American taxpayer."

Further, with an executive agent for UAVs, operational effectiveness will be optimized and interoperability increased--not just with the other services, but with coalition partners as well, General Deptula said.

"We want to integrate our allies into our UAV programs so we can work better together," he added. The general also cited the success in developing the F-35 Lightning II as an example of a multi-national, multi-service development project that worked.

The general also cited the global positioning system as a wholly owned and operated Air Force program that works practically seamlessly with the other services. Executive agency for medium- and high-altitude UAVs can work the same way, he said.

There is no template, however, for executive agency itself, and the Air Force is ironing out the specifics. To that end the Air Force would like to work with the other Services in planning the details, the general said.

"Executive agency will maximize both operations and acquisitions for UAVs," General Deptula said.

The next breakfast seminar is scheduled for May 17 and Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Ms Sue Payton, will be the keynote speaker. 

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