SOF pivots towards three-tiered ISR
The US needs to change the way its special forces conduct ISR to embrace cyberspace and space-based capabilities, speakers argued at vSOFIC 2021. (Photo: USAF/Joseph Eddins)
US special forces must leverage space, cyberspace and unmanned capabilities to operate in semi-permissive and potentially non-permissive environments.
A shifting threat landscape demands a different approach to ISR from US special forces, according to speakers at the virtual SOFIC event on 17-21 May.
James Smith, Acquisition Executive for US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), highlighted next-generation ISR as one of several technology focus areas for planners.
He referred to an earlier SOFIC presentation by USSOCOM Commanding General Richard Clarke, outlining the evolution of threats in the current battlespace.
Clarke told the virtual audience that USSOCOM had been 'very successful in providing our operators with a find, fix, finish, exploit and analyse capability, mainly predicated on the assumption that we
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