UK: UAVs and ISTAR Capabilities

[William F. Owen]

At best they identify the limited number of analysts, however, their systems integration issues are blandly glossed over as "There are a wide range of challenges, some of which are international or crossdepartmental, which have to be addressed . . . . "
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Well you can always rely on the UK MOD to screw up a good idea and then talk about "Systems" "Jointery" and "Purples" approaches.

There is a vast amount of experience in operating UAV available to the UK. - can't see the challenge personally.

[Jedburgh]

UK House of Commons Defence Committee, 16 Mar 10: The Contribution of ISTAR to Operations

....Our first inquiry, in addition to laying the groundwork for future ISTAR inquiries, concentrated on one of the principal means of collecting information, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). We signalled in the Report on UAVs the intention to examine later in this Parliament the MoD’s progress in addressing the challenge of how better to process and disseminate the information collected. Given the importance of current UK operations in Afghanistan, we decided to use our second inquiry to probe the area of processing and dissemination within the context of the current and anticipated future operational use of ISTAR assets. The key questions on which we wished to focus were:

• How are the various ISTAR capabilities being managed and coordinated: who has overall Command and Control in the UK and on operations?

• What contribution have existing systems in Afghanistan made to ISTAR capability?

• What difference has ISTAR made to the security of UK deployed troops, for example in reducing the number of IED casualties?

• To what extent has ISTAR increased the accuracy of coalition targeting and reduced civilian casualties?

• To what extent are the right personnel in place, and trained, to deliver ISTAR in operations?

• Have the benefits of Network Enabled Capability been realised in permitting a greater variety of sensors and weapons to be available on demand to commanders and troops on the ground?

• What are the gaps in current ISTAR capabilities?

• What more needs to be done for the full benefits of ISTAR to be realised?

• To what extent are existing ISTAR systems and capabilities interoperable with coalition forces?

• What lessons can be drawn from current operations for developing future capabilities?

Complete report at the link.