The Administration’s 2006 defense supplemental request also includes nearly $15 million to enhance AC-130 gunships and EC-130 Compass Call for the global war on terror. The Air Force plans to add an advanced signal processing system, called Senior Scout, to provide real-time processing of target data and enhanced traffic alert and collision avoidance systems to its gunships. For the EC-130 electronic warfare aircraft, USAF wants to buy two more improvised explosive device “defeat capability kits” for operations in Southwest Asia.
Amid a high-profile recruiting crisis, Air Force leaders and experts have increasingly noted the challenging long-term trends the service will face in enticing young Americans to sign up—decreasing eligibility to serve, less propensity to do so, and less familiarity with the military. But while those same leaders say there’s no “silver…