The future of US Air Force intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) will be guided by a new flight plan to be completed in the first quarter of 2018. The plan’s announced intention is to focus on capabilities, rather than specific aircraft types. This will identify what ISR needs to do, with associated scope and timeframe, with follow-on studies to examine how these are best carried out.
While not providing specific programmatic direction, the flight plan is likely to stress the importance of expanding and developing the use of artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities to analyse sensor data. Current ISR platforms collect more data than can be analysed and the plan will investigate how AI can be used to create actionable situational awareness. David C Isby
