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6 October 2005 |
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http://www.defensenews.com/story.php... |
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Finding and tracking a single nuclear weapon - and then preventing it from getting into the United States - is keeping a group of military professionals busy during a three-day war game Oct. 4-6. These are capabilities the Air Force needs to master. "We can't do that now," said Col. Gail Wojtowicz, Air Force division director of future concepts and transformation. The war game, held at a Dulles, Va., office of consultants Booz Allen Hamilton, is looking at scenarios for the year 2025, Wojtowicz said. A large part of the game is focused on finding a nuclear weapon in a Middle Eastern country and stopping it before it crosses an American border - a priority for U.S. President George W. Bush's administration. "We consider that an away game," Wojtowicz said. "We'd like to interdict this someplace else." The warg amers are finding that the Air Force needs more persistent intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. It also needs quicker ways to strike thousands of miles from the U.S. homeland. The war game is using other scenarios to test the Air Force's future long-range strike capabilities against a Far Eastern near-peer competitor. Wojtowicz said the game is confirming that the Air Force will rely on space access, electronic warfare and legal advice to shape warfare in 2025. "The net-centric piece is the biggest and most important part of all of this," she said. She said that the Office of the Secretary of Defense and U.S. allies are also interested in airborne nonlethal weapons, from tear gas dispensers to electronic attack by high-powered microwaves and other methods. The legal ramifications of using such weapons need to be addressed, she said. Space is another area where legal issues become murky. There are policy restrictions on using space weapons, she said, but what about near space? "That's not space, and it's not an overflight of a nation," Wojtowicz said. The Pentagon needs to figure out whether such weapons can be used legally by U.S. forces or by others, she said. "Any of these capabilities we develop can come back to haunt us." The war game is also looking at one of the trickiest issues the Air Force or another service may have to face: what the Pentagon can do on American soil. "We have to relook at the military role in policing the homeland," Wojtowicz said. Hurricane Katrina "certainly opened our eyes." That's one reason why Department of Homeland Security officials are part of the war games. The war gamers also invited Air Force officers from many service commands, including special forces; U.S. Army and Navy officers; and British and Australian military officers - and, of course, the lawyers and legal professors. The war gamers are even looking at the funding that likely will be available to build the future Air Force. Service planners believe they are likely to lose about $300 billion from the top line in the next 20 years, Wojtowicz said. "That's going to impact capabilities."
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