Deputy Defense Secretary outlines U.S. aerospace and cyber-age challenges

Defense Professionals ^ | 1/25/2010 | Gerry J. Gilmore

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

Current and potential U.S. adversaries seek to employ asymmetrical weapons, such as improvised explosive devices and cyber warfare, as a means to confront U.S. military superiority in conventional conflict, Deputy Defense Secretary William J. Lynn III said here Jan. 21.

"Our dominance in conventional warfare has led adversaries to seek new avenues to challenge us," Mr. Lynn told military and civilian attendees at the 38th Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis-Fletcher Conference on National Security Strategy and Policy.

The nature of armed conflict, Mr. Lynn said, has changed since the Cold War era, when military doctrine was developed to deal with an envisioned clash of massed conventional air and land forces on European battlefields.

Today, insurgents in Afghanistan and Iraq employ low-tech improvised explosive devices "that penetrate even the most heavily defended armor," he said, while terrorists and rogue nations seek to acquire weapons of mass destruction.

However, the U.S. military is employing new methods and technology to meet asymmetrical challenges, he said, pointing to the increased use of unmanned aircraft in those theaters of operation.

For example, UAs fitted with cameras can identify and track insurgent activities, such as the placing of roadside bombs. And, UAs also can employ missiles to attack the enemy, while space-based satellites provide added intelligence information.

"Because of a significant investment in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (capabilities), commanders receive actionable intelligence in minutes rather than in hours," Mr. Lynn said. "Unmanned aircraft now combine surveillance with attack abilities."