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Gates puts pressure on call for more UAVs

Defense Secretary Robert Gates continued to criticize military leaders for the slow buildup of unmanned aerial vehicles patrolling the skies over Iraq and Afghanistan at a speech he made Monday morning to officers at Air University, Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala.

“I’ve been wrestling for months to get more intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance assets into the theatre. Because people were stuck in old ways of doing business, it’s been like pulling teeth,” Gates said.

To get more UAVs like the Air Force’s Predators in theatre quicker, Gates established a new service-wide UAV task force last week. Headed by Brad Berkson, acting principal assistant deputy undersecretary of Defense for logistics and materiel readiness, the group was tasked to cut through the bureaucratic tie-ups and fast track the procurement of more aircraft and the necessary personnel to operate the UAVs.

“My concern is that our services are still not moving aggressively in wartime to provide resources needed now on the battlefield,” Gates said.

He 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. The UAV task force will be made up of Joint Staff, military services comptroller and the undersecretary of defense for intelligence.

“The Secretary of Defense wants to ensure we are doing everything we can to provide additional ISR to deployed forces in combat,” said Cheryl Irwin, a Defense Department spokeswoman.

While Monday’s comments by Gates didn’t specifically blame the Air Force for the slow buildup, the secretary did choose an audience of Air Force officers for the speech and he called upon the Air Force leaders earlier this year to boost the number of MQ-1 Predator orbits to 24 by June 1. The Air Force is on track to meet that number — a 25 percent increase from last year.

Other military leaders have also been critical of the UAV orbit count. Navy Adm. Eric Olson, head of Special Operations Command, told the Senate Armed Service’s Committee on March 4 that the two commands need 30 orbits over Iraq, alone.

“While we’ve doubled this capability in recent months, it is still not good enough,” Gates said Monday.

Air Force spokesman Maj. Dave Small said the service did not have a comment in response to Gates’ speech.

While the Air Force struggles to supply enough rated pilots, the possibility of allowing unrated officers to pilot the Predators has arisen, which Gates echoed during his speech. However, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley has shot that idea down saying he would require all Predator pilots to be rated as long as they carried munitions.

“All this may require rethinking long-standing service assumptions and priorities about which missions require certified pilots and which do not,” Gates said. “For those missions that still require manned missions, we need to think hard about whether we have the right platforms.”

Gates, who served in the Air Force in the 1960s 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.

He said the Air Force and the other branches of the military need to protect those in their ranks who are maverick thinkers, who defy convention and push for creative solutions to hard problems. He said he intended to make a similar point about the value of dissent in the military in remarks later Monday at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y.

“Dissent is a sign of health in an organization, and particularly if it’s done in the right way,” Gates said.

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The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Discuss: Gates prods Air Force to rethink priorities

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Text of Gates’ speech