AIR POWER DEVELOPMENT CENTRE BULLETIN

TECHNOLOGY AS A FORCE MULTIPLIER

The development of air power is potentially at a critical point, where technology is focusing on enhancing its ability to function as a system of systems, which is capable of creating effects in near real-time, on demand.

Sanu Kainikara

The past two decades have been the most demanding times in recent history in terms of challenges to national security through the diversity and proliferation of threats. When combined with the rapid pace of global sociological, technological and economic changes, the situation lends itself to high levels of uncertainty in the security environment. The list of destabilising factors with long tentacles is extensive—the emergence of a terrorist quasi-state in the Middle East; the mass migration of to Europe of thousands of refugees that the war in the region has spawned; increasing cyber attacks; home-grown terrorism in the more developed nations of the world; the rise of China; a resurgent Russia intent on regaining lost global status; and instability caused by the so-called ‘rogue’ nations like North Korea. All of these create unsettling ripples in the security environment that cannot be contained within a region or group of nations.

In this fundamentally volatile environment, nation-states tend to place increased emphasis on the employment of military forces in the pursuit of national security. However, the unpredictability of the transforming scenario makes it extremely difficult for military forces to have the absolutely correct capability to deal with emerging threats. Even though military capabilities have evolved, and are continually changing, such capabilities can never be completely optimised to meet emerging threats. This is where advanced technology comes into play.

If security threats are continually changing and adapting, then the highest priority in military capability-development should be given to intelligence gathering. In all domains of military operations—in the air, on the ground, on or under water, and in space—the pre-

eminent requirement is to ‘know’ and understand what is going on, within a timeframe that is as close to real-time as possible. No military force can today be successful without having sufficiently robust and timely situational awareness.

Modern military forces operate within a cycle, which is intelligence focused and starts with the gathering, analysis and assessment of emerging situations before

the decision to act is made. Intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capability therefore is one of the foundational capabilities required for the optimised application of force, both lethal and non-lethal.

The contemporary battlespace is fast paced and requires actionable ISR in a pervasive manner for a force to successfully compete and win within it. This requires the ability to collect information through

the dynamic fusing of sourced data between different intelligence agencies and the ability to disseminate the resultant ‘knowledge’ to the key decision-makers in a time-sensitive manner so that they have at least the minimum necessary situational awareness to act. The crux of the matter therefore is persistent ISR, which in turn provides the advantage of decision-superiority.

Airborne systems have unparalleled capability to provide persistent ISR. Specialised ISR air assets have unique capabilities—they can deploy into an area of interest, far more rapidly than any other capability; they can do so at a time and place of the commander’s choosing to cater for the need of the hour; they have sensors that can carry out wide area surveillance; and they have very long endurance. Perhaps the most important characteristic of airborne ISR capabilities is that they are automatically aligned for collaboration with uninhabited technologies.

Issue 257, December 2015ISSN: 2205-0078 (Print) 2205-0086 (Online)

F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter during a test flight in the United States

The necessity for persistence means that most missions would be exceedingly dull and boring and beyond human endurance, which would then become the limiting factor. These missions could also become dangerous and the uninhabited status makes it possible to accept a higher risk factor meaning that probability of mission success also is higher. Such systems are already operational and only need to be employed within a mature concept of operation to become force multipliers.

Uninhabited systems have also been armed in recent times, giving them the capacity to add to the ‘act’ part of the cycle with the same airborne platform that performs persistent ISR. One of the hallmarks of air power is its ability to strike with precision, discrimination and proportionality, thereby ensuring that the chances of collateral damage are minimised. When a time-sensitive competence is added to this, the strike capability of air power assumes an exponentially greater effectiveness. In the face of irregular adversaries presenting an asymmetric threat, the importance of such a strike capability cannot be overemphasised. Armed unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which are technology-enabled, would start to be force multipliers when employed in this manner.

Technology is also pushing the envelope in providing greater autonomy to the armed UAVs that are already operational. Significant research is being carried out in the realm of artificial intelligence (AI). This does not mean that the ‘man-in-the-loop’ will be removed. It only means that the ‘man’ will be placed in another part of the loop that provides a relatively easier way to combine situational awareness and decisive action in a more time-sensitive manner. In other words, the ‘man’ will be able to function in a better connected environment with access to faster data fusion facilities and instant communications. AI will increase autonomy of uninhabited airborne platforms and also make them even more time-sensitive.

Technology has already provided air power with the ability to deliver lethal force from the air with near-absolute precision. It now provides the ability to combine the unique characteristics of air power in an optimum manner to enhance the effects that can be created. Today air power is not merely about airborne platforms—no doubt they are the mainstay for the application of air power—but about the manner in which different assets can be connected to build a system of systems that can create the desired precision effects. Technology is now about developing the ability for different systems to interoperate within a broad area of instantaneously shared information that creates a common picture of the battlespace available to all participants simultaneously. The force multiplication effect of achieving this can only be understood when it is witnessed from the opponent’s viewpoint.

From its inception, air power has been technology-enabled. It is now evolving into becoming technology-empowered with the ability to create effects at a time and place of one’s own choosing with great precision, proportionality and discrimination. Technology has become a force multiplier for air power, as never before.

Key Points• The global security environment is changing rapidly

and there are a number destabilising factors that may not be containable

• Situational awareness, in a time-sensitive manner is a critical requirement for the successful application of military force

• Technology now acts as a force multiplier for the employment of air power to create precise, discriminate and proportional effects, when and where necessary

Air Power Development CentreF3-GF, PO Box 7932, Department of Defence

CANBERRA BC ACT 2610Ph: 02 6128 7041 Fax: 02 6128 7053

Email: airpower@defence.gov.auWeb: www.airforce.gov.au/airpower

Disclaimer: The views in this Pathfinder are not necessarily those of the RAAF

A Heron Remotely Piloted Aircraft takes off from Woomera, South Australia, for 5 Flight operational upgrade mission.