Without timely and accurate intelligence, regardless of source, an operator cannot maneuver his fleet or employ his weapons. Whether we want to find, fix, and finish terrorists from the sea, or engage in long range maritime scouting against a belligerent Navy, a sufficient quality and quantity of "multi-int" capable air platforms is essential. The SECDEF realized in 2008 that a shortage of airborne intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) platforms was hurting our efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Following some prodding, the Air Force finally shifted into gear and began to build, borrow, and contract dozens of new aircraft, which are being employed to good effect on those two battlefields and elsewhere today. As Navy and Marine units find themselves dispersed wider sea and littoral areas, a sufficient quantity of supporting ISR becomes even more important.
A couple of decades ago, a typical carrier air wing had a number of organic platforms capable of collecting intelligence, including fast movers with TARPS and ES-3A Shadows for ELINT. These aircraft were supplemented by a robust ground-based P-3 fleet along with numerous FLIR and radar capable LAMPS on the small boys. Contrast this capability with today's much-reduced organic ISR capability and some long-in-the-tooth P-3s which are often being employed overland. Today's global naval missions require extraordinary amounts of ISR, but the resources just aren't adequate to source them properly.
ISR seems to be getting short shrift in the Navy's ever-changing procurement plans. Outside of the naval special operations community, the energy and funding to increase the fleet's airborne ISR capabilities seems lacking. The Navy is slowly introducing rotary and fixed-wing UAVs such as Fire Scout and BAMs, but lacks more robust collection capabilities that could be provided by manned sea-based aircraft. The P-8 will eventually bring a capable P-3 replacement to the fleet, albeit a big, expensive, noisy, and manpower intensive one. But there are numerous smaller prop-driven aircraft in use over battlefields today that provide similar, and in some cases better capabilities than the P-3 or P-8 in many ISR roles, at a significantly lower price point.
Is a Navy ISR "surge" in order to fill some of the current capability gaps in this area until more advanced programs are brought online? A major R&D or procurement effort is not necessarily required. Rather, the Navy should leverage the work of the Air Force and SOCOM to rapidly acquire both manned and unmanned platforms and adapt them for sea service. Is there a reason that an aircraft similar to the Air Force's "Project Liberty" MC-12W couldn't be retrofitted with stronger landing gear and tail hook for use from carriers or even large deck amphibs? This sort of platform would provide a number of tactical and operational advantages over our current ISR fleet, giving the Navy the ability to collect volumes of intelligence over land and water from sovereign US territory without a large expeditionary footprint ashore.
The opinions and views expressed in this post are those of the author alone and are presented in his personal capacity. They do not necessarily represent the views of U.S. Department of Defense or any of its agencies.
A couple of decades ago, a typical carrier air wing had a number of organic platforms capable of collecting intelligence, including fast movers with TARPS and ES-3A Shadows for ELINT. These aircraft were supplemented by a robust ground-based P-3 fleet along with numerous FLIR and radar capable LAMPS on the small boys. Contrast this capability with today's much-reduced organic ISR capability and some long-in-the-tooth P-3s which are often being employed overland. Today's global naval missions require extraordinary amounts of ISR, but the resources just aren't adequate to source them properly.
ISR seems to be getting short shrift in the Navy's ever-changing procurement plans. Outside of the naval special operations community, the energy and funding to increase the fleet's airborne ISR capabilities seems lacking. The Navy is slowly introducing rotary and fixed-wing UAVs such as Fire Scout and BAMs, but lacks more robust collection capabilities that could be provided by manned sea-based aircraft. The P-8 will eventually bring a capable P-3 replacement to the fleet, albeit a big, expensive, noisy, and manpower intensive one. But there are numerous smaller prop-driven aircraft in use over battlefields today that provide similar, and in some cases better capabilities than the P-3 or P-8 in many ISR roles, at a significantly lower price point.
Is a Navy ISR "surge" in order to fill some of the current capability gaps in this area until more advanced programs are brought online? A major R&D or procurement effort is not necessarily required. Rather, the Navy should leverage the work of the Air Force and SOCOM to rapidly acquire both manned and unmanned platforms and adapt them for sea service. Is there a reason that an aircraft similar to the Air Force's "Project Liberty" MC-12W couldn't be retrofitted with stronger landing gear and tail hook for use from carriers or even large deck amphibs? This sort of platform would provide a number of tactical and operational advantages over our current ISR fleet, giving the Navy the ability to collect volumes of intelligence over land and water from sovereign US territory without a large expeditionary footprint ashore.
The opinions and views expressed in this post are those of the author alone and are presented in his personal capacity. They do not necessarily represent the views of U.S. Department of Defense or any of its agencies.
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