Increased Need For Intelligence Gathering And Surveillance

A top Air Force General says more UAV's are being deployed along with manned systems in the skies over Afghanistan in support of the troop surge called for by President Obama.

Air Force Lt. Gen. David Deptula, deputy chief of staff for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, told reporters Wednesday that air capabilities would be expanded over the next 8 months. Among the technology being deployed is the MQ-9 Reaper, which can beam as many as 10 individual video feeds back to its operators simultaneously.

The Associated Press reports that Deptula says a total of 30 MC-12W manned reconnaissance aircraft will be working in Iraq and Afghanistan in the coming months. Six are currently deployed in Iraq, he said. He also said the Air Force would be making use of its latest UAS, called "The Beast Of Kandahar", which resembles a B-2 Bomber ... but would not provide any operations details about that system.

Deptula told reporters that the Air Force was also providing liaison officers to other branches of the service to help them match aircraft to the missions they need to accomplish. Not ever mission needs the large Predator or Reaper UAV's he said. Some were better accomplished by the smaller Raven system, he said.

Reaper UAV

He also said by late summer, the "Gorgon Stare" system would be deployed in Afghanistan. The surveillence system can cover an estimated 2 1/2 square miles, and send as many as 10 different video streams to 10 different ground stations simultaneously. The data will be distributed to bases worldwide to keep up with the demand for analysis, he said.

The final number of manned and unmanned systems to be deployed with the surge has yet to be determined, Deptula said.

FMI: www.af.mil