Posted on 04/21/2008 10:55:00 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
WASHINGTON (AP) Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Monday the Air Force is not doing enough to help in the Iraq and Afghanistan war effort, complaining that some military leaders are "stuck in old ways of doing business."
Gates said in a speech at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., that getting the Air Force to send more surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft to Iraq and Afghanistan has been "like pulling teeth."
Addressing officer students at the Air Force's Air University, the Pentagon chief praised the Air Force for its overall contributions but made a point of urging it to do more and to undertake new and creative ways of thinking about helping the war effort instead of focusing mainly on future threats.
"In my view we can do and we should do more to meet the needs of men and women fighting in the current conflicts while their outcome may still be in doubt," he said. "My concern is that our services are still not moving aggressively in wartime to provide resources needed now on the battlefield."
He cited the example of drone aircraft that can watch, hunt and sometimes kill insurgents without risking the life of a pilot. He said the number of such aircraft has grown 25-fold since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
He said he has been trying for months to get the Air Force to send more surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft, like the Predator drone that provides real-time surveillance video, to the battlefield.
"Because people were stuck in old ways of doing business, it's been like pulling teeth," Gates said. "While we've doubled this capability in recent months, it is still not good enough."
To push the issue harder, Gates said he established last week a Pentagon-wide task force "to work this problem in the weeks to come, to find more innovative and bold ways to help those whose lives are on the line."
He likened the urgency of the task force's work to that of a similar organization he created last year to push for faster production and deployment of mine-resistant, ambush-protected armored vehicles that have been credited with saving lives of troops facing attacks by roadside bombs in Iraq.
"All this may require rethinking long-standing service assumptions and priorities about which missions require certified pilots and which do not," Gates said, referring to so-called unmanned aerial vehicles that are controlled by servicemembers at ground stations.
The military's reliance on unmanned surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft has soared to more than 500,000 hours in the air, largely in Iraq, according to Pentagon data. The Air Force has taken pilots out of the air and shifted them to remote flying duty to meet part of the demand.
Gates, who served in the Air Force in the 1960s as a young officer before he joined the Central Intelligence Agency, urged the officers in his audience to dedicate themselves to thinking creatively.
"I'm asking you to be part of the solution and part of the future," he said.
Gates made no direct mention of a series of mistakes and missteps involving the Air Force in recent months, beginning with an episode last August when a B-52 bomber flew from an Air Force base in North Dakota to another in Louisiana with the crew unaware that it was carrying nuclear weapons.
Last month Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne announced that four Air Force nose cone assemblies designed for use with nuclear missiles were mistakenly shipped to Taiwan in 2006. The error was not verified until shortly before Wynne made the announcement, and the matter is under Pentagon investigation.
Gates, who served in the Air Force in the 1960s as a young officer before he joined the Central Intelligence Agency,
This Air Force Pilot is not impressed. He is listening to Army folks who have failed in their ISR management and is now balming the USAF on it.
I resent that he pokes the USAF int he eye at Maxwell. Some inspiring leader when you have that happen.
Well, if Gates was an officer in any branch of the military, there once was a good rule to live by:
Praise in Public!
Criticize in Private!
He’s the freakin’ SecDef for crying out loud! He could have come down on the AF CS during a staff meeting and given the AF a whatfor by when.
Using the press, is only going to make it worse. Did Gates ever ask why the AF couldn’t provide assets for recon??? Did he ask how he as the SecDef could expedite their needed actions? There are a lot of things Gates could have asked and done before going public, but remember Gates is a Democrat and its an election year too....
“I would like to see how they stack up to me and the rest of my Ranger buddies...”
At ease, friend....I’ve no desire for a pissing contest. I’m saying I’ve known a few hard-a$$es from that group that I wouldn’t want to face on the wrong side of the fight.
Militant
This is not the first time he has called out the AF on this issue. This is reminiscent of the situation in the early 1960s when the AF would not supply sufficient ground support to the army.
You do realize who those guys do most of their training with don’t you? The US Army.
But its gotta be kind of boring, circling for hours, entering in the GPS coordinates of targets and sending little bombs on their way, without ever doing something to get the adrenaline going. Heck, a flying dumptruck could do the job.
Gates said in a speech at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., that getting the Air Force to send more surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft to Iraq and Afghanistan has been "like pulling teeth."
Doesn't the Secretary of Defense have the authority to do something about it rather than complain that "it's hard to get them to cooperate"?
you’re right, this will be an interesting debate and sensitive to many. I’m a US Army Major (UH-60 Pilot, one 15-month Iraqi tour).
First of all, folks in the Airforce didn’t sign up to be in the infantry, and while we’re at it, neither did folks in the Navy.
It’s not any services fault concerning the type war we’re in. I strongly disagree with making navy and airforce types do army and marine corps missions.
I was stupid enought to join the army. Now I’m paying the price.
However, I think it’s perfectly fine to call airforce and navy types pussies. Just wink while you’re doing it.
March 21, 2008
***************************EXCERPT********************
Last fall, the Pentagon's civilian chiefs shot down an Air Force move to take over almost all of the military's big unmanned aircraft.
Pentagon battle breaks out over a spy plane
**************************EXCERPT*******************
By Peter Spiegel, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
March 21, 2008
Left the link out at post # 33...see link at post # 30 to the Article at WIRED Mag website.
AT the Heart of all of this ,...it really is a battle over Money...
Russia 'shot down Georgia drone'
A Russian fighter jet has shot down an unmanned reconnaissance aircraft over the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia, Georgian authorities say.
” but remember Gates is a Democrat “
He used to be the President of the Young Republicans. I’ve never heard that he was ever a Democrat.
Just let some MARINE aviators “borrow” a few of the Air Force’s planes.
UAVs Earning Their Keep In Sadr City Battles, al-Qaeda Still Taking A Beating
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