pilot and strategist. In 1991, he was chief of staff of the Joint Special Operations Task Force for Northern Iraq in operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. He has commanded the 1st Spe- cial Operations Group, the 16th Special Opera- tions Wing, and Special Operations Command, Pacific. He served as director of plans and policy for Special Operations Command Europe, direc- tor of strategic planning at Air Force headquar- ters, and director for operations for the Joint Staff. n His command assignments have includ- ed Alaskan Command, Alaskan North American Aerospace Defense Command Region, and 11th Air Force. He is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo.; the then- Armed Forces Staff College in Norfolk, Va.; and the National War College in Washington, D.C. n The following interview has been edited for length and, in some cases, clarity.
What has been the impact of nine years of war on the Air Force? We have adjusted with needs of the joint team. There’s been growth in ISR [intelligence, surveillance, re- connaissance]. B-1 bombers carry targeting pods that make them close- air-support aircraft. Space capabilities — from GPS to sensing to communica- tions — have improved. If someone is wounded, instead of days or weeks to return to the best care on the planet, it now takes hours or a day. We contrib- ute in every possible way to make it safer for teammates on the ground.
Is there an unclassified way to describe the ISR support being provided to ground forces today?
8 6 MI L I T A R Y O F F I C E R S E P T EMB E R 2 0 1 0
Sure. Because of full-motion video, the best shooters in the armed forces no longer go around a corner or through a door or over a wall with- out having some sense of what’s on the other side. They would if they had to, but why should we ask them to if they can be better prepared to engage the enemy? This is one of the powerful things about persistent ISR. Full-motion video still comes back to command and exploitation centers. But it also goes to the sergeant, spe- cialist, or Marine gunny working on his Rover terminal. We have taken situational
awareness from the strategic level — which still informs national decision-makers — down to the kids
who carry an M-4 and [who are] more aware now of what the battle- field and their adversary look like.
It’s easy to understand then why, as you took this job, the defense secretary wanted this capability multiplied. Correct? No question. Another use is with IEDs. Again, multiple spectra of electro-optical, radar, [and] video are keeping our youngsters safe because we either see the enemy planting de- vices or we see the telltale effects. I’ll give you an example: Our ana-
lysts were observing a target when they noticed bad guys never took a certain path away from their loca- tion. The analysts concluded there must be a reason and offered this to the tactical team. It turned out there were several pressure-plated IEDs along the path never traveled. Our guys went in by another path and didn’t lose anyone. This is about teamwork, about keeping people healthy, and about minimizing risk to the force. That’s why the secre- tary of defense, why all of us, are passionate about this.
The Air Force is going through major transitions tied to advances in technology, tighter budgets, and aging aircraft platforms. Can you describe the effect of that? There are a couple of central themes, some technology-driven, like re- motely piloted aircraft [RPAs]. RPAs are enormously valuable, particularly for missions requiring persistence. A U-2 [high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft] typically operates less than 12 hours at a time, given demands at that altitude on the aircrew. A Global Hawk [RPA] can operate up to 36 hours and in numbers that challenge the manned-aircraft fleet. So the ISR mission is growing. We have about 150 Predators; maybe 40
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