Return-Path: <sentto-279987-4229-1010451647-fc=all.net@returns.groups.yahoo.com> Delivered-To: fc@all.net Received: from 204.181.12.215 [204.181.12.215] by localhost with POP3 (fetchmail-5.7.4) for fc@localhost (single-drop); Mon, 07 Jan 2002 17:03:09 -0800 (PST) Received: (qmail 6032 invoked by uid 510); 8 Jan 2002 01:01:11 -0000 Received: from n3.groups.yahoo.com (216.115.96.53) by all.net with SMTP; 8 Jan 2002 01:01:11 -0000 X-eGroups-Return: sentto-279987-4229-1010451647-fc=all.net@returns.groups.yahoo.com Received: from [216.115.97.164] by n3.groups.yahoo.com with NNFMP; 08 Jan 2002 01:00:49 -0000 X-Sender: fc@red.all.net X-Apparently-To: iwar@onelist.com Received: (EGP: mail-8_0_1_3); 8 Jan 2002 01:00:47 -0000 Received: (qmail 97085 invoked from network); 8 Jan 2002 01:00:47 -0000 Received: from unknown (216.115.97.172) by m10.grp.snv.yahoo.com with QMQP; 8 Jan 2002 01:00:47 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO red.all.net) (12.232.125.69) by mta2.grp.snv.yahoo.com with SMTP; 8 Jan 2002 01:00:48 -0000 Received: (from fc@localhost) by red.all.net (8.11.2/8.11.2) id g0811Do22836 for iwar@onelist.com; Mon, 7 Jan 2002 17:01:13 -0800 Message-Id: <200201080101.g0811Do22836@red.all.net> To: iwar@onelist.com (Information Warfare Mailing List) Organization: I'm not allowed to say X-Mailer: don't even ask X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.5 PL3] From: Fred Cohen <fc@all.net> X-Yahoo-Profile: fcallnet Mailing-List: list iwar@yahoogroups.com; contact iwar-owner@yahoogroups.com Delivered-To: mailing list iwar@yahoogroups.com Precedence: bulk List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:iwar-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com> Date: Mon, 7 Jan 2002 17:01:13 -0800 (PST) Subject: [iwar] [fc:Instantaneous.Attack.Capability.Near.For.U.S.] Reply-To: iwar@yahoogroups.com Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Defense News January 7-13, 2001 Instantaneous Attack Capability Near For U.S. Continuous Surveillance Gives Leaders, Pilots Immediate Picture By Frank Tiboni, Washington Afghanistan's most important military lesson is that the United States can monitor the battlefield for long periods of time, sending a continuous flow of information to air, space and ground weapon systems, say senior Pentagon officials. For the first time in combat, live imagery flew from Predator unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to U.S. F-16 fighters, AC-130 gunships and F/A-18 strike fighters, allowing them to attack Taliban and al-Qaeda targets almost immediately. Meanwhile, E-8, RC-135 and E-3 surveillance aircraft and the developmental Global Hawk UAV continued to scrutinize the battlefield, constantly updating the picture for searchers, troops and decision-makers. The Pentagon's chief information officer calls this persistent ISR - intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance - and hails it as a significant step forward in the Pentagon's information gathering capabilities. "We are taking what is, in effect, television pictures and staring at the same place and deciding where to move the camera based on what we see," John Stenbit, assistant secretary of defense, command, control, communications and intelligence, told Defense News Dec. 18. Speeding Up the Flow The military services' ability to quickly gather and distribute information has come far in the past decade, officials say. During the 1991 Persian Gulf War, it took hours to get a Pioneer UAV over an area of interest, and hours, even days, more to get the information to commanders and troops, Stenbit said. By 1999's Operation Allied Force in Kosovo, the Pentagon had added the Hunter and Predator UAVs, but the information still was not flowing quickly to those who needed it, he said. Although UAVs provided continuous coverage of critical targets in Kosovo, the U.S. military recognized that UAV operations needed to be better integrated into overall campaign plans, according to a January 2000 report to Congress, "Kosovo/Allied Force After Action Report." Pentagon analysts listed some of the problems that needed fixing: streamlining the targeting process; increasing the number of ISR assets in a theater; and rapidly finding and destroying mobile targets in poor weather and dense foliage. "Persistent ISR is letting us find a target in Afghanistan, combine it with a weapon, shoot a weapon and watch what happens," said Stenbit. "If we see that they try to escape in that truck, we can then shoot that truck." Sending live video from UAV sensors to fighter cockpits is one of the biggest recent changes in the way the U.S. fights its wars, said an industry intelligence analyst. "There were regular complaints in the Gulf War of imagery not moving. In some cases, imagery was not getting in the hands of our military leaders. And if it was, it was days old. Whatever was wrong has been corrected in large part," Steven Aftergood, a senior research intelligence analyst for the Washington-based watchdog Federation of American Scientists, told Defense News Jan. 4. The new UAVs' ability to loiter for hours over a battlefield is the main reason this became possible, said retired Air Force Gen. Richard Hawley, former commander of Air Combat Command. "Persistent ISR is a concept that has arisen solely because of the ability of a UAV to stay on station for very long periods of time," Hawley told Defense News Jan. 4. Several years after Kosovo, Air Force Secretary James Roche says Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan is proving that persistent ISR is moving the U.S. military a step closer to its long-sought goal of time-critical targeting. "We are heading toward a goal of instantaneous attack. I think we're almost there," said Roche in a Dec. 21 interview. "Once the commander says that it's a legitimate target, we want to be able to attack now. Not three hours from now." Roche praised the flexibility of operation commander Army Gen. Tommy Franks, commander in chief of U.S. Central Command, MacDill Air Force Base, Fla., who allowed the Air Force to experiment with its young weapon systems. "We are now learning an enormous amount by having all these systems in there," Roche said. Persistent ISR is not just about finding and engaging targets quickly. It is also about receiving a constant picture of a region in order to make sure troops know where to camp and how the enemy is arranged, said an Air Force official. "The only way to make sure you didn't miss anything is to have an eyeball on it all the time," the official said. Even more important is making it easier for personnel to decipher what it all means. "The real key to persistent ISR is assessing the battlefield before the fight begins," a congressional analyst told Defense News Jan. 3. The Air Force will use these lessons to try and develop a multisensor command-and-control system within the decade, Roche said. The system would tie together manned and unmanned sensors in the air, on the ground and in space, allowing it to focus on an area with pinpoint accuracy continuously in all weather conditions, he said. "We're using up enormous bandwidth," said Roche. "If we're going to try to do 24-7, we need a portfolio of sensors because no one [sensor] is going to do it," Roche said. Gail Kaufman contributed to this report. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Tiny Wireless Camera under $80! Order Now! FREE VCR Commander! 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