The Air Force’s top intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance officer, Lt. Gen. David Deptula, took a tour recently in Southwest Asia to see how the intel airmen have implemented a centralized mission planning cell and modified tactics and techniques to accommodate the war on terror. He also took time to meet with British airmen, whose GR-4 Tornados are providing intel to ground forces. Deptula is at the center of USAF efforts to reinvent ISR and the ongoing unmanned aerial vehicle executive agent brouhaha.
As Air Force leaders consider concepts of operations for Collaborative Combat Aircraft, sustainment in the field—and easing that support by using standard parts and limiting variants—should be a key consideration, according to a new study from AFA's Mitchell Institute of Aerospace Studies.