During the first week of October 2022, the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) hosted the Long Endurance Alternate Airborne Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (LE-A2ISR) Summit, focusing on platforms, sensors, Signal Intelligence (SIGINT), and Processing, Exploitation and Dissemination (PED) challenges. Sponsored by CENTCOM Commander, General Michael Kurilla and held on MacDill Air Force Base, a variety of guest speakers outlined technical challenges and called on innovative solutions from industry to resolve gaps in persistence across the CENTCOM Area of Responsibility (AoR).
According to GEN Kurilla, advancements in technology have created a paradigm shift in the defense domain, requiring innovative solutions to modern intelligence challenges. GEN Kurilla details that CENTCOM’s greatest challenge remains the duration of long endurance ISR platforms and calls on industry to field solutions to this challenge. He emphasized the need for multi-domain assets and real time data, encouraging experimentation and failure as long as progress is made.
The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security USD(I&S) Director of ISR Operations, Mr. Soren K. Jones, reiterates these priorities. He explains that industry can meet persistent ISR challenges by creating domain agnostic products, embracing non-traditional ISR techniques, and promoting integration and interoperability between sensors, platforms, and partners.
Brigadier General John Cogbill, CENTCOM Deputy Director of Operations (CCJ3), spoke on the command’s priority to create a data centric, decision dominant combat environment. In today’s intelligence environment, the challenge is no longer a lack of data, but a surplus. Analysts are flooded with information, servers are overwhelmed and inefficiencies arise from inadequate data organization and storage. Lessons learned from the Ukraine conflict detail that the next generation of near-peer warfare will not support the traditional Tactical Operations Center (TOC) of the past. These hotspots of operations and intelligence will become a target and require select individuals and the warfighter to control decision-making at the lowest level.
Guest speaker P.W. Singer, American author and political scientist, discussed the current robotic industrial revolution’s focus on multi-domain and interconnected sensors. In order to keep up with adversarial advancements, the U.S. must prioritize the militarization of sensors, the Internet of Things (IOT) and the use of AI to simplify decision-making. Lastly, Singer explains that to create and employ effective advancements in technology, we must first understand the relationship of the technology to the user. Technology can be: 1. An aid, 2. An extension of humans, and 3. A teammate, an agent operating on one’s behalf. After determining this relationship, technology can be effectively employed to match capability requests from out nations leaders.
For more information on the event or topics discussed, contact Hannah Olson at HannahO@accelinnovationcorp.com.