Operation Inherent Resolve over Iraq and Syria uncovered a serious shortfall in available intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capacity within the coalition. Major contributors—the US, UK, and France—“either through underinvestment or reapportionment, have inadvertently taken risk in many of the same capability areas,” Royal Air Force Air Vice Marshal Gavin Parker said at ASC 15 on Tuesday. “The initial planning for operations in Iraq and Syria revealed a 50 percent shortfall in required availability of some forms of ISR” despite some 20 nations contributing to OIR, said Parker. “That shortfall is still very much in evidence today,” he added. In light of Russian threats to Europe, it challenges the “continued validity of the assumptions” allies made in eliminating or curtailing ISR capabilities, such as the RAF’s Nimrod R.1 intelligence aircraft. These shortfalls particularly lie in “high-end capabilities needed to conduct operations in a contested air and electronic warfare environments against a peer or near-peer adversary,” Parker warned.
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.…