More intel flights could minimize collateral damage, AFCENT commander says

Understanding that the Air Force is busy across the globe and budgets are tight, the head of Air Forces Central Command on Thursday said he weighs all options before requesting more fighters, bombers, or close air support units for Middle East operations. But more intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance drones would likely ease the pressure put on manned aircraft and lessen the risk of civilian deaths, he said.

"I understand it because it does have an impact if I ask for more, for more assets," said Lt. Gen. Charles Brown, the commander of the air war against the Islamic State group. "Which is why I want to be a good steward about what I ask for, realizing that it's going to have an impact on a unit and the readiness of a unit back home, in order to have … the next rotation be ready."

Since March 2015, the U.S.-led coalition — dominated by the U.S. Air Force — has consistently flown about 4,500 sorties a month, AFCENT spokesman Lt. Col. Chris Karns told Air Force Times Thursday.
"On average, the coalition flies about 60 strike sorties a day and expends around 2,000 weapons a month," Karns said in an email.

Intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance aircraft like the MQ-1 Predator, MQ-9 Reaper and the Global Hawk have flown 12,000 sorties since the start of Operation Inherent Resolve, he said. The Predators and Reapers, armed with Hellfire missiles and flying about a third of the Air Force's sorties, have hit ISIS targets on 17 percent of those sorties, according to AFCENT statistics provided to Air Force Times in March.

The Predator, expected to be out of service by 2018-2019, officials have said, will begin its phase out this year. The Air Force wants to move its airmen onto more MQ-9s and has requested 24 more Reapers in its fiscal 2017 budget.
Brown explained that more ISR capability would significantly aid the mission.

"I would actually like to have more ISR and really be able to use it," he said, "Because what it helps me to do is develop targets [and] ... strike at the same time as we develop those targets. The more ISR I have, I can minimize the risk to civilian casualties and continue the precision air campaign that we have."

Karns elaborated, "We are able to track Daesh, build a picture of who they associate with and where they go, and then strike on our terms ensuring maximum success with minimal collateral damage," he said, using the Pentagon-preferred name for the militant group.

The U.S. is working to change the process for approving airstrikes, giving commanders on the ground more authority to call in strikes on the extremists, defense officials said last month, which could pose higher-risks for civilians in the area.
Army Col. Steve Warren, a Defense Department spokesman in Baghdad, explained this would allow for a more "rapid execution of strikes because we don’t have to send requests all the way to Tampa anymore," he said, referring to the Central Command headquarters location.

“As our higher headquarters starts seeing the same type of target-set come up, over time they will say ‘OK, in this case we're going to delegate the authority. You don’t need to show us that anymore'," Warren said on April 20.
Unmanned flights could better identify needs on the ground, Brown said. Intel platforms, like "airborne and space ISR," Karns added, have allowed the coalition to soak up and document the battle environment.

"I will tell you that there's never enough ISR," Brown said. "If there's one piece that I know that the [Combined Joint Task Force] and the ground component ask for, it's more ISR."