Every day on the news we hear about some crisis or another, many emanating from Washington, DC. Some crises are manufactured for the benefit of goosing TV ratings or print readership while others are very real. But only at the Pentagon do genuine crises involve consequences of life and death.
As we draw-down from two long wars, the shift in needs and strategies leave military strategists with a foggy set of circumstances. The Department of Defense, which routinely tackles tough decisions in black and white terms, now struggles with even the simple ones. The unavoidable result leaves the Pentagon with a crisis of vision, creating strategic uncertainty and near term risks for our deployed forces.
There is no better illustration of this than the missile defense project called JLENS – the Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System program. It elevates radars to the “high ground” in a pair of aerostats, giving US and coalition forces a lookdown perspective extending nearly 200 miles against low flying cruise missiles and other threats. It can stay airborne for 30 days with 360-degree, 24 hour/day coverage.
JLENS progressed smartly in development with the objective of meeting Central Command’s urgent persistent surveillance needs. Before the Pentagon was facing sequestration, JLENS was set to deploy, presumably to Afghanistan to prove itself in real world operational tests. In April, it accomplished a successful test in Utah that exceeded expectations, synchronizing its surveillance radar with an advanced fire control radar and a Patriot missile to engage and shoot down a simulated enemy missile. The program has full congressional support and approval from the secretary of defense for overseas testing. But the Pentagon is withholding the funds to conduct the test so now, we just wait.
In the Pentagon’s defense, the uncertainties facing war planners on significant strategic decisions can be made manifest by freezing programs like JLENS. This strategic paralysis is similar to the dynamic that affects our economy. Economists and politicos debate the causes of economic woes, but generally agree that uncertainty leads investors to sit on their money. Likewise, uncertainty in national security means the Pentagon, a massive bureaucracy shouldering the burden of protecting the country and enabling a peaceful world, also sits on its money because its vision is clouded by shades of gray brought on by circumstance.
The trials facing JLENS remind me of an earlier weapons system, the Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS). As the Chief of Combat Operations at the Combined Air Operations Center, I personally witnessed JSTARS saving troop lives on the ground whiling turning the tides of battle.
Prior to Operation Desert Storm, budgets were tight and JSTARS was still being tested. The platform’s capabilities were designed to meet the risks of major combat operations, not the low intensity threats our military faced at the time. In spite of this seeming disconnect JSTARS was twice saved from termination. The first was when it deployed during the test phase to meet the surprise threat from the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, a threat for which it was designed. It was saved the second time shortly after I joined the Air Combat Command team responsible for JSTARS operational testing. This time the platform had two successful deployments to Bosnia, flying against atypical threats in support of NATO's Joint Endeavor operations.
Back then, visionaries saw through the fog of peace and understood the need and opportunity to have a wide area surveillance capability. They moved forward, produced, and fielded JSTARS so it was ready for action when Operation Iraqi Freedom was launched. Today we need the same visionaries to ensure that JLENS can also move forward to meet our battle needs, whenever and wherever they may be.
Brian Searcy is a retired Air Force colonel and former JSTARS commander.
