The air chiefs of 13 countries, meeting in Amman, Jordan, recently for the fifth Middle East Air Symposium, talked about the challenges that the region is facing and the unconventional uses of air forces in recent operations. Hosted by Jordan’s King Abdullah II, the countries of Australia, Bahrain, Egypt, France, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Britain, and the US all sent representatives. Among the hot topics was the use of airpower in non-traditional intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance roles. USAF Maj. Gen. Allen Peck, the deputy Combined Forces Air Component Commander for US Central Command, explained it this way: “NTISR is a marriage of convenience and necessity.”
The Pentagon’s new counter-drone task force will play a direct role in arming Airmen with new weapons to defend Air Force agile combat employment, or ACE, air bases in austere locations against enemy drone attacks, the director of Joint Interagency Task Force 401 said Oct. 14.
