A senior Pentagon military analyst is warning that insufficient debate is taking place over the merits of acquiring new frontline combat aircraft when existing fighters could suffice in a wide range of operational roles if upgraded to support networked operations.
John Garstka, assistant director for concepts and operations in the Department of Defense's Office of Force Transformation, says a combination of latest-generation targeting pods, Link 16 datalinks and a supporting command and control network integrated to allied ground forces may be the most effective means of performing the air-to-ground strike and support role.
Speaking at the Network Centric Warfare Europe 2004 conference in Stockholm on 1 June, Garstka said that analysis of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) in Afghanistan and the ongoing air mission in Iraq indicates that high-level gains in operational capability can be achieved through upgrades, rather than the acquisition of replacement platforms.
"When you are dealing with the types of environment that we saw during OEF and OIF [Operation Iraqi Freedom], where there isn't a significant surface-to-air threat, there isn't a significant air-to-air threat, and what you are really interested in doing is providing support to the ground, you could do some very exciting things with your existing platforms today that would have a significant impact on the way that the fight is conducted on the ground," Garstka says.
This can be achieved by a "not significant investment in networking, digitisation and targeting pods and putting high bandwidth pipes off those aircraft with targeting pods". Garstka adds: "There hasn't been a rigorous debate about what happens when you up-network and up-datalink and put some of these advanced targeting pods on existing aircraft such as the [Lockheed Martin] F-16 and the [Panavia] Tornado. Because if you can deal with the surface-to-air threat those aircraft can be very effective in supporting the types of missions we are being called upon to do globally."
He adds:"The bottom line is that networked and digitised air forces fight differently, operate differently and when you combine them in the right ways with networked and digitised ground forces, you can change the way those forces fight."
PETER LA FRANCHI / STOCKHOLM
Source: Flight International
