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Military Pushed To Innovate

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By ROBERT BURNS

The Associated Press

Published: April 22, 2008

WASHINGTON - In unusually blunt terms, Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Monday challenged the Air Force, whose leaders are under fire on several fronts, to contribute more to immediate wartime needs and to promote new thinking.

Gates singled out the use of pilotless surveillance airplanes, in growing demand by commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan, as an example of how the Air Force and other services must act more aggressively.

Gates has been trying for months to get the Air Force to send more unmanned surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft, such as Predator drones that provide real-time surveillance video, to the battlefield.

They are playing an increasing role in disrupting insurgent efforts to plant roadside bombs.

"Because people were stuck in old ways of doing business, it's been like pulling teeth," Gates said of his prodding. "While we've doubled this capability in recent months, it is still not good enough."

Gates made his remarks to a large group of officers at the Air Force's Air University at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala. Noting that they represent the future of Air Force leadership, he urged them to think innovatively and worry less about their careers than about adapting to a changing world.

Although Gates' comments were directed mainly at the Air Force, his concern about faster fielding of unmanned surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft included a broader appeal to the entire military. The Army, Navy and Marine Corps have been expanding their fleets of drone aircraft.

"In my view we can do and we should do more to meet the needs of men and women fighting in the current conflicts while their outcome may still be in doubt," he said. "My concern is that our services are still not moving aggressively in wartime to provide resources needed now on the battlefield."

He cited the example of drone aircraft that can watch, hunt and sometimes kill insurgents without risking the life of a pilot.

He said the number of such aircraft has grown 25-fold since the Sept. 11 attacks to a total of 5,000.

To push the issue harder, Gates said he established last week a Pentagon-wide task force "to work this problem in the weeks to come, to find more innovative and bold ways to help those whose lives are on the line."

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said Gates expects an initial report from the group by early May and told Brad Berkson, his director of program analysis and evaluation, to make short- and midterm recommendations, including some at the 30-, 60- and 90-day marks.

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