T
he intelligence, surveillance
and reconnaissance (ISR)
mission has been a core
competency of airpower
since its beginnings.
Whatever else an air arm
may be called upon to do,
ISR makes other missions
possible through the digital
networks of sensors, both
airborne and terrestrial.
US Air Force Chief of Staff General David
Goldfein said in Washington on July 26:
“Victory will go to the nation that can take
all the ones and zeros and turn them into
superior situational awareness.”
Airpower almost invariably operates as
part of a coalition, whether in combat or on
exercises. In 2017, the systems shaping
international ISR capabilities are the
Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, unmannedair vehicles (UAVs) and pod-mounted
sensors; all have integral datalinks that
downlink to gateways and can be connected
to the type of networks on which General
Goldfein is relying.F-35: an emerging ISR aircraft
In 2017, the F-35 has started ying from
home-country bases in Israel and Italy, with
Norway to follow. It has already demonstrated
its potential as a multidomain ISR platform.
Speaking at an Air Force Association
seminar in Washington DC on July 11, the
commander of Air Combat Command,
General Mike Holmes, said the F-35’s
capabilities are likely to increase once the
planned Block 4 and other upgrades are
operational.
Among international users, the Israeli
Air Force is on schedule to achieve initial
operational capability with its F-35As inDecember 2017. Its chief of staff, Major
General Amir Eshel, who remains on
ight status and has gone through F-35A
conversion training, has told his US
counterparts what Israel is discovering
about the F-35’s ISR capabilities. Secretary
of the Air Force Heather Wilson quoted him
as saying, after ying seven missions in the
F-35A: “This changes everything. There is
nothing like it.”
According to Mike Holmes, Eshel called the
F-35 game-changing, and said the rst time
Israeli F-35s ew in country they saw things
they had not seen before, and captured data
revealed that things were out in the battle
space that they did not know about. The rst
F-35 sorties provided the Israelis – long-
standing experts in ISR – with enhanced
situational awareness. Holmes considered
it a demonstration of how the F-35 provides
unparalleled ability in multidomain battle.MILITARY SHAPING THE FUTURE OF ISR
David C Isby explains why three different types of
weapon system are shaping the backbone of tactical ISR
capability in the US and international armed services
F-35s, UAVs and Sensors
As the F-35 Lightning II continues to assume more operational
tasking, operators are becoming ever familiar with its ISR
capabilities provided by sensors like the APG-81 AESA radar,
AAQ-37 Distributed Aperture System, AAQ-40 Electro-Optical
Targeting System and the ASQ-239 Barracuda electronic
warfare suite. SSgt Staci Miller/US Air Force