The Administration’s 2006 defense supplemental request also includes nearly $15 million to enhance AC-130 gunships and EC-130 Compass Call for the global war on terror. The Air Force plans to add an advanced signal processing system, called Senior Scout, to provide real-time processing of target data and enhanced traffic alert and collision avoidance systems to its gunships. For the EC-130 electronic warfare aircraft, USAF wants to buy two more improvised explosive device “defeat capability kits” for operations in Southwest Asia.
The Air Force is moving forward with a new, algorithm-driven system to help U.S. Northern Command better detect airborne threats. NORTHCOM and the North American Aerospace Defense Command, which are tasked with protecting the homeland from attack, depend on a slew of radars and other data systems to monitor U.S.…