Air Force must do more for war, Gates says

Adapting to changing times
The bulk of Gates’ remarks focused on suggested areas in which the Air Force can adapt to changing times.

While 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 terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, 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.

'Be part of the solution'
Gates likened the urgency of the task force’s work to that of a similar organization he created last year to push for faster production and deployment of mine-resistant, ambush-protected armored vehicles that have been credited with saving lives of troops facing attacks by roadside bombs in Iraq.

“All this may require rethinking long-standing service assumptions and priorities about which missions require certified pilots and which do not,” Gates said, referring to so-called unmanned aerial vehicles in the Air Force fleet that are controlled by service members at ground stations.

Gates, who served in the Air Force in the 1960s as a young officer before he joined the Central Intelligence Agency, urged the officers in his audience to dedicate themselves to thinking creatively.

“I’m asking you to be part of the solution and part of the future,” he said.

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