Paul Lewis/WASHINGTON DC
The US Department of Defense's report to Congress on its performance in Kosovo's Operation Allied Force has identified the need for improvements in critical areas, including NATO alliance capabilities, command and control (C2), intelligence gathering, precision strike and air defence suppression.
The report re-emphasises the need for the NATO alliance to address "shortcomings" in C2 and information systems, secure communications, precision strike, air operations support and mobility.
Among its recommendations is the need to improve NATO out-of-area contingency planning and develop an overarching C2 policy to avoid potential confusion from parallel US and NATO structures. The DoD is also looking at ways of better protecting its computers from hacking.
The accidental bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade has highlighted the need for the Defense Intelligence Agency and the National Imagery and Mapping Agency to overhaul their databases. Rapid response procedures have already been developed for critical "no strike" target updates.
The Pentagon has called for improved integration of unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) with campaign planning.
Measures being taken include accelerating acquisition of Northrop Grumman Global Hawk high-altitude UAVs, ordering more General Atomics Predators and adding a laser designator capability.
According to the report, the 38,000 sorties flown by coalition aircraft drew three times as much surface-to-air missile fire as during the Gulf War. While only two aircraft were lost, the report notes that the Yugoslav air defence system was not state-of-the-art.
It says continuing efforts need to be made to improve air defence suppression capabilities. The $3.5 billion in post-Kosovo supplementary funding includes 7,600 additional Raytheon ALE-50 towed decoys, $389 million in improvements to the Northrop Grumman EA-6B Prowler and an analysis-of-alternatives study for a replacement jammer aircraft to be fielded around 2010-15.
After the disappointing performance of the Boeing AH-64A Apache, the Pentagon plans to develop a joint deep operations concept for tasking army attack helicopters and tactical missiles.
Source: Flight International
