The U.S. Air Force is pondering the creation of a major command focused on intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR).

A dedicated command could be part of a new way of doing business in ISR. The service is looking for alternatives to aging ISR technology, but is stymied by the time it takes from proposing new technology until it is operational, which is still about 10 years.

How successfully and quickly the introduction of new ISR-gathering technologies is accomplished will be guided by an ISR summit slated for Sept. 29 and led by U.S. Air Force Sec. Michael Donley and Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz. It also will examine establishment of the new command, says Air Force Lt. Gen. Dave Deptula, deputy chief of staff for ISR.

“We have to get to the point in our acquisition system where we are much more rapid and agile in terms of delivering the desired capability,” Deptula says. For example, “With a decision to proceed with the MQ-X follow-on capability in 2009 and following all the rules, you have [initial operational capability] by 2019. We have to change.”

In fact, that change already has some substance. “We just finished a one-year effort to build an ISR flight plan,” Deptula says. “It identifies all the ISR capabilities resident in the Air Force today, what is in the POM [budget planning] and what’s beyond the POM.”

The concept is to connect the ISR flight plan to each of the combatant and major commands so they can have direct access to the database and thereby generate requirements immediately instead of once a year. With that continuous flow of information, ISR officials expect to rapidly adapt and modify modernization plans to meet the latest combat needs.

Air Force officials agree that modernization is going to be difficult because of declining resources and that they will have to make decisions between modernization of older technology and very targeted investments in new technology.

Some programs will be delayed or cut as needs are reassessed, matched against technology advances and fit into existing budgets.

“We’ve all knew that by 2010 [we would] have seen the high-water mark of spending on defense,” Deptula say. “I would tell you that ISR is an area that demands more attention, not less. I think you will see ISR get a proportional share of, if not an increase, in the investment decisions. [Nonetheless,] there are hard times ahead.”

A senior ISR industry official attending the Air Force Association convention near Washington says “the red lights are flashing” in anticipation of near-term budget cuts. “The Pentagon wants us to pay for all the development costs and come to them with a product ready for operations. Then they say never mind because the budget is no longer there. We can’t continue doing that. We have a company responsibility to the shareholders.”

Credit: Boeing