Interview - ISR: a British perspective: The RAF Chief of Air Staff weighs in

摘要

Great Britain is one of America's closest allies in the war on terrorism, and its Royal Air Force has proven a singularly effective partner in strike, support and ISR roles. The service now has more than 2,500 personnel deployed in theater, with significant assets based at Basra, Iraq, and Kandahar, Afghanistan. With its experience in the war zone growing rapidly, the RAF has become increasingly adept at nontraditional ISR, or the collection of imagery with targeting pods mounted on its Harrier and Tornado multirole combat aircraft. The service also employs the upgraded Nimrod aircraft for a variety of tactical and strategic intelligence-related tasks, including the collection of signals intelligence. Unmanned systems are just beginning to influence RAF operations, with U.K. personnel serving alongside their U.S. Air Force counterparts and three Predator B aircraft on order. The Astor/Sentinel battlefield surveillance aircraft is on the verge of service entry, and a new unmanned combat aerial vehicle program, Taranis, is expected to influence the RAF's future employment of pilotless strike aircraft alongside manned platforms.