Lt. Gen. Donald Wurster, Air Force Special Operations Command boss, said Tuesday at AFA’s Air & Space Conference that one of the more remarkable recent success stories has been the command’s development and expansion of intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance tools. As combat air patrols have increased in Southwest Asia, Wurster said, the command has added MQ-9 Reapers of the 33rd Special Operations Squadron to the capability provided by the MQ-1 Predators of the 3rd SOS, as well as adding a second intelligence analysis and dissemination capability with the 56th Intelligence Squadron to that of its 11th IS. Adding this ISR capability to AFSOC “has been so successful we are in constant demand,” Wurster said.
Aircraft readiness will suffer if Congress does not approve some $1.5 billion worth of spare parts the Air Force requested in its annual Unfunded Priorities List, sent to Capitol Hill last week, Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin said.