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 Air Force displayed all the firepower it has amassed on Okinawa in an unusually diverse show of force this week. IIn a May 6 “Elephant Walk,” Kadena Air Base showcased 24 F-35A Lightning II stealth fighters, eight F-15E Strike Eagles; two U.S. Army Patriot anti-missile batteries near the runway; and…