So the Air Force is embarking on an effort to define the architecture for a network that can handle all this diversity. Finding methods for fusing and interpreting all this information in a timely fashion is a big challenge. But the service now has 250 high-end (Tier Two and Tier Three) unmanned aerial systems feeding into the system, and stealthy tactical aircraft such as the F-22 with extraordinary capacity to penetrate enemy airspace and collect useful information. For instance, the ground segment of the Space Based Infrared System became operational a decade ago, and greatly enhanced the value of non-imaging infrared collections from overhead systems even before next-generation missile-warning satellites were lofted into orbit.
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Over time, the Air Force has learned how to exploit these traditional, technical sources of intelligence to maximum effect. There are whole constellations of billion-dollar satellites eavesdropping on enemies and collecting imagery that the government doesn’t even admit exist. Occasionally an RQ-170 reconnaissance drone will crash in Iran or problems with a missile-warning satellite will surface, but much of what makes the Air Force world-class at collecting and analyzing intelligence remains in the black world. Outsiders who lack security clearances seldom get a complete picture of just how diverse the Air Force’s collection capabilities are. Although it is far ahead of the other services in developing a system for analyzing and disseminating all this intelligence, it needs a better network and communications architecture.
In addition to traditional collection systems such as orbital photo-reconnaissance satellites and airborne eavesdropping planes, the service is being inundated with information from non-traditional sources, including an abundance of open-source data.
One of the agenda items was figuring out how to integrate and exploit the diverse array of intelligence that its various sensor systems are collecting. This week the Air Force held one of its periodic meetings of four-star officers to discuss high-priority challenges facing the service.
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