Lexington Study: Preserving America’s Edge In Airborne ISR

Air dominance is crucial to U.S. military strategy. However, dominance means more than mere command of the air. It means being able to leverage that command to provide awareness, mobility and precision strike to the entire joint force. Over the last eight months, the Lexington Institute has been conducting a study of the options the United States has for preserving the full panoply of capabilities that air dominance affords. The study was funded by a major foundation, and its first chapter is posted on the Lexington homepage today. The chapter deals with maintaining America’s edge in airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities. It identifies development of a more robust network and recapitalization of the manned ISR fleet as the most important investment goals for assuring adequate global awareness in the years ahead. The chapter’s full text can be found here.