New Bomber To Focus Heavily On ISR

Aviation Week and Space Technology ^ | 12/17/2009 | David A. Fulghum

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

The U.S. Air Force’s ISR chief says a new bomber design will be more about intelligence gathering and non-kinetic weapons than about bombing.

The arsenal of this “long-range, ISR/Strike” aircraft may eventually include directed energy and network attack, says Lt. Gen. Dave Deptula, deputy chief of staff for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR).

Directed energy weapons under development by the Pentagon include a range of lasers and devices that produce pulses of high-power microwaves. Other non-kinetic capabilities include the attack of enemy sensors with very precise, exotic-waveform jamming and the low-power, electronic invasion of networks that link tactical weapon systems such as advanced air defenses.

The new bomber also will reflect experience gained in Afghanistan with operation of Lockheed Martin’s RQ-170 Sentinel unmanned, stealthy, surveillance aircraft. The Sentinel’s identification was first revealed on Aviation Week’s Ares blog (www.aviationweek.com/ares) Dec. 5. That experience also will add currency to a much greater ISR content in the new design.

“Clearly low observability is part of the [new ISR/Strike aircraft] equation,” Deptula says. “It also makes sense to put ‘find and fix’ sensors on the same platform that applies the effect. And not all those effects may be kinetic. Technology has pushed us beyond [the bomber] and fiscal constraints push us toward [multi-role]. The most important part of a future bomber is not to deliver bombs but to assimilate information rapidly and translate it into decisions.”

A non-negotiable element in the formula is that operations and ISR will be tightly fused on a single platform. “To continue to talk about a segregation of intelligence and operations simply doesn’t make ... sense,” Deptula says. Moreover, the U.S. has to be prepared for a spectrum of contingencies from the irregular warfare of Afghanistan to conventional conflict against the forces of developed nations.

[The Magical Mischief Tour]

Hmmm.... a bomber that don’t bomb?

[The Magical Mischief Tour]

“We’ve had the luxury for the last 18 years of operating in [southwest Asia] in a permissive air environment,” Deptula says. “We have to think about operating in contested and denied environments [and across] vast distances.”

That makes me believe they still intend to keep the mainstay bomber force domestically deployed such as we do with the B-2's at Whitman AFB in MO.

[Yossarian]

“We’ve had the luxury for the last 18 years of operating in [southwest Asia] in a permissive air environment,” Deptula says. “We have to think about operating in contested and denied environments [and across] vast distances.”

And thus we get to reap the consequences of canceling our F-22 air superiority solution....

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

I agree

[PhilDragoo]

Cancel Obama ~ Restore F-22

[spetznaz]

But ...but ...all we need are A 10s and its HUGE gun, with some ‘UCAVs armed with Amraams.’ Or so I read from some on FR. /s

[mad_as_he$$]

lol... There in lies the problem. The two war scenario. The AF just can’t leave the high tech gadgets alone but hates to have to fight below 3,000 feet. The discussion about giving the Army back it’s air power needs to be pursued.

[U.S. Army Retired]

I think the ISR Bomber they are talking about here has been spotted with Night Vision in this video. It has a ceiling of 60,000 ft like the SR-71 Blackbird. Here is the video and a photo. It looks like a triangle that people are thinking are UFOs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XevJR7biQE8&feature=related
http://www.popsci.com/files/imagecache/article_image_large/files/articles/bomber-485.jpg