Nontraditional Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (NTISR) - Making the Most of Airborne Assets - LANTIRN, FLIR Infrared, SAR Radar, ELINT, COMINT, Integration Issues, Cloud Computing

Professionally converted for accurate flowing-text e-book format reproduction, this study uses nontraditional intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (NTISR), now known in tactics, techniques, and procedures as operations reconnaissance, as a case study to increase combat capability across multiple weapon systems within the Air Force. NTISR demonstrates how one capability can flex to bridge gaps across several doctrinal functions and mission sets. It also provides an argument for the development of future technologies within extant fiscal constraints, revealing a requirement to shift the acquisition weight of effort away from traditional niche assets to those that support true multirole capabilities.

NTISR is priority number six on the Secretary of the Air Force's (SECAF) ISR review task list. The task list addresses the potential for tactical NTISR capabilities by each platform and includes other possibilities including capabilities not currently in production. While the office of primary responsibility (OPR) is Air Combat Command (ACC), this task supports several other major Air Force commands. The lead agency tasked to develop the NTISR road map is AF/A2 (USAF Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance), not AF/A3/5 (USAF Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, Plans, and Requirements)— or a combination of the two. Their challenge is to develop a road map that includes potential platform and sensor mixes, requirements for communication pathways, personnel training requirements, and a concept of operations (CONOPS) development. This enormous undertaking is of paramount importance if the Air Force is to truly fulfill its goal of becoming a more agile and responsive force, especially in these fiscally constrained times.

Although NTISR is not a new concept to military operations, it formally evolved to fill an operational gap between the available and required ISR capability to hunt SCUDs in Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). Because of the low-density/high-demand (LD/HD) nature of traditional ISR platforms, ad hoc means were implemented to provide a gap-fill capability. Various sensors on different aircraft were employed to hunt the mobile SCUDs, from electrooptical/infrared (EO/IR) targeting pods on fighter aircraft to ground moving target indicator (GMTI) and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) systems on the F-15E and B-1 bomber. SCUD hunting was a difficult mission and one that had limited success, but it did prove that traditional niche air assets could successfully flex to support NTISR roles.