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.
The Pentagon is counting on Congress to navigate a legislative tightrope and pass a party-line bill to fund nearly a quarter of its $1.5 trillion budget request for fiscal 2027, including billions of dollars for top priorities like Golden Dome, the F-35, munitions, and unmanned systems. Experts and lawmakers from…