Seventeen nations came together to improve intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance data processing through a two-week NATO exercise in June. Exercise Unified Vision, which ran from June 14-29, included an Air Force RQ-4 Global Hawk and a Belgian B-Hunter remotely piloted aircraft sending data to 10 sites manned by a team of 400 participants. The exercise focused on five complex “vignettes,” including convoy protection, hostage rescue, domestic terror threat, and ballistic missile defense, according to a NATO release. US Air Forces in Europe hosted the exercise’s command post at the Warrior Preparation Center in Germany, with additional locations in Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain, the United Kingdom, and in the US, according to NATO.
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.