• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to footer

OSINT.org

Intelligence Matters

  • Sponsored Post
    • Make a Contribution
  • Market Intelligence
    • Technologies
    • Events
  • Domain Intelligence
  • About
    • GDPR
  • Contact

Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Design for Great Power Competition

June 4, 2020 By admin Leave a Comment

The U.S. military could suffer unacceptably high casualties and struggle to win, or perhaps lose, a war against China or Russia. This implication by the National Defense Strategy Commission stands in contrast to the past several decades during which the U.S. possessed military power without equal. Great power competition has returned, marked by Chinese and Russian malign activities occurring below the threshold of armed conflict, an area of competition called the grey zone, while they simultaneously advance warfighting capabilities with increased lethality, range, and speed. The result is the potentially significant erosion of the military advantage possessed by the United States.

A key capability to ensure the U.S. military maintains its dominance is in its intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) assets. The House and Senate Armed Services Committees have both taken an increasing interest in U.S. military ISR capabilities vis-à-vis China and Russia. The House has emphasized in particular the importance of joint airborne ISR capabilities and established a Future of Defense Task Force to review and assess U.S. defense capabilities to meet emerging threats. The Senate has stressed command and control and both legacy and future ISR systems that can provide tactical forces with targeting data needed to perform their mission within a highly contested environment. Most recently, the House and Senate Armed Services Committees each drafted legislation calling for appropriations to enhance military modernization, to include funding for ISR, in the Indo-Pacific region.

Senior military leaders at the Pentagon are also rethinking modernization priorities to meet the demands of the National Defense Strategy (NDS), and are aiming to build a more lethal force given concerns that China and Russia may surpass the United States in military capability. ISR is one of their modernization priorities. More specifically, the Department of Defense (DOD) aims to connect ISR sensors across all warfighting domains (space, air, land, sea, and cyber) directly with commanders and weapon systems, sharing data at an accelerated speed. This will enable U.S. and allied forces to outthink, outpace, and outmaneuver its adversaries. Congress may consider whether the DOD-wide modernization programs and budget requests for developing advanced sensing capabilities and connecting those sensors to shooters, match the strategies identified in the National Security Strategy (NSS) and NDS.

The current DOD ISR enterprise does not yet possess the readiness to effectively support operations in the grey zone or support combat operations in a highly contested environment, according to senior DOD ISR leaders. To meet the demands of the new global strategic environment, the DOD ISR enterprise intends to shift from a manpower-intensive force optimized for operations within a permissive environment to an automation-intensive force capable of defeating a peer adversary within a highly contested environment. To achieve operational success within a high threat environment, the Services have indicated they would like to invest in resilient and collaborative ISR capabilities that enhance situational awareness, aid rapid decisionmaking, and reliably find, fix, and target elusive targets deep within enemy territory. The objective is to generate an information advantage for U.S. military forces, which is paramount to effective operations both in the grey zone and highly contested environments.

To achieve an information advantage, each military service has highlighted a number of initiatives unique to their specific primary missions and in support of creating an all-domain sensing and sense-making capability. In other words, the aim of the future DOD ISR enterprise is to gain access to data from multiple domains (space, air, land, sea, and cyber); make rapid sense of that data; securely deliver that data to weapons, weapon systems, and commanders; and possess a workforce that can execute its mission in competition and combat, at a pace greater than the enemy. However, each service faces significant challenges with harnessing the exponential growth in data to realize the potential of disruptive technology and shaping the future workforce to employ these warfighting capabilities.

This report offers Congress a conceptual framework for understanding unclassified DOD ISR modernization initiatives for great power competition. Congressional interests include funding levels, strategy, plans, and programs relative to military ISR investments for the new global strategic environment as defined in the NSS and NDS. Congress’s decisions on these issues could have significant implications on the U.S. military’s competitive advantage versus China and Russia and its ability to compete, deter, and win in this environment.

Source: Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Design for Great Power Competition

Filed Under: Workflow

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Footer

Recent Posts

  • Tadaweb Secures $20M to Expand Human-Centric OSINT Platform
  • The Collapse of Assad’s Regime: The Beginning of the End for Iran’s So-Called Axis of Resistance
  • Cognyte Intelligence Summit 2024: Transforming Global Security with AI-Powered Insights
  • Strategic Concerns Over Peru’s New Port: A Growing Debate on China’s Influence
  • Entry instructions to Nasrallah’s bunker containing more than half a billion dollars in gold and dollars
  • The former Obama AG suing U.S. government on behalf of Chinese military company DJI
  • The Cowardice of Sinwar: Fleeing Accountability and Meeting a Fitting End
  • Deployment of missile interceptor system to Israel in preparation for strike on Iran
  • In 2024, Qatar pledged to invest €10B in the French economy.
  • Eliminated the terrorist Hader Ali Taweel, who served as the Kfarkela Company Commander of the Hezbollah

Media Partners

  • Analysis.org
  • Opinion.org
Nvidia’s Growth Dilemma: Can the Giant Keep Rising?
Tariffs, Populism, and Political Risk: Could the End of De Minimis Bring Down a Government?
Salesforce’s Growing Risk: Can the Cloud Giant Survive the AI Wave?
Adobe’s Kodak Moment? Why AI Could Reshape the Future of Creative Software
Nasdaq Futures Retreat as Tech Weakness and Inflation Jitters Weigh on Sentiment
AI Adoption Curve: Why We’re Still in the Early Innings
A Probability Map for the AI Displacement Era
The U.S.–Israel Trade Balance: Deficits, Shifts, and Strategic Realignment
Marvell’s Post-Earnings Slide: When Expectations Outrun Delivery
AI’s Investment Super-Cycle Is Only Beginning
Why Trump May Blink First in a Trade War with the EU
Breaking the Axis: How a Defeat of Iran Would Shatter the China–Russia–Iran Power Triangle
China’s Middle East Fantasy Falters Under Israeli Fire
Global Jihad: A Timeline of Terror That Refutes the Islamophobia Myth
Iran’s Strategic Infrastructure: The Fragile Pillars of a Regional Power
Spain Cancels Israeli Arms Deal Under Far-Left Pressure: A Strategic Misstep?
A Warning Shot in the Pacific
Hamas’ Grand Deception: How Radical Islamists Manipulated Western Liberal Sentiments
Qatar’s Masterful Manipulation of the Trump Administration Exposes Dangerous Diplomatic Weakness
Putin Plays Trump’s Administration Like a Violin Virtuoso

Media Partners

  • Market Analysis
  • Market Research Media
The Growing Gap Between Foreign Ownership of U.S. Stocks and Debt: What It Means for Markets
EU Blinks First: Temporary Suspension of Tariff Countermeasures Signals Strategic Caution in U.S. Trade Conflict
AMD Set to Surge: $250 Target Within Reach as AI Momentum Accelerates
China’s Strategic Shift to RISC-V: Market Implications and Growth Prospects
Understanding Transfer Pricing: A Key Component of Multinational Business Operations
A Comprehensive Tour of Project Management Tools and Integration Platforms
Implementing Odoo ERP in a Small Manufacturing Enterprise: Costs and Considerations
Economic Optimism Meets Uncertainty: Blue Chip Indicators Highlight Post-Election Fiscal Concerns and AI’s Looming Impact
The Future of Connectivity: Insights from Ericsson’s November 2024 Mobility Report
Platinum Market Faces Sustained Deficit Amidst Strong Demand and Constrained Supply
Warner Bros. Discovery: Restructuring for a Comeback?
Can Unity Software Inc Rise to Become a Gaming Media Giant?
Netflix’s Ad-Supported Strategy: Is a Free Tier the Next Frontier?
Adobe Set to Hit $640: AI Growth and Financial Strength Signal Imminent Breakout
The Rise of Headless Content Frameworks in Distributed Media Projects
Developing Web Projects: From Concept to Launch
The Rise of APS-C Cameras: A Professional Renaissance in Photography
Market Brief: Disruption in Spanish Orange Supply Chain and Strategic Response by UK Retailers
Global AI-Powered Movie Scenario Market Analysis 2023-2030: Growth, Trends, and Forecast
Market Research Report: US Government Cybersecurity Market in 2024

Copyright © 2022 OSINT.org

Technologies, Market Analysis & Market Research and Exclusive Domains