New strike force has IT arsenal

The Air Force unveiled a new operational concept Thursday called the Global Strike Task Force — a "kick down the door" force that will rely heavily on information technologies, especially those used for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.

The new concept is being billed as the continuation of the Air Force's transformation into a 21st century force. The transformation began several years ago with the creation of the Expeditionary Air Force, which requires IT to enable a projection of force into the world's hot spots in the absence of the Cold War's pre-deployed forces around the world.

"The Global Strike Task Force is the next phase of our transformation," said Gen. John Jumper, commander of Air Combat Command.

One of its main features is the ability to rapidly deploy intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets, Jumper said.

He explained that those assets will require seamless data sharing, the ability to "have conversations at the machine level." The concept also calls for reducing from days to minutes the amount of time it takes to locate, fire upon and destroy critical targets.

Perhaps even more ambitiously, the Air Force is seeking "predictive intelligence analysis," which means service leaders want 24-hour intelligence accurate enough that they can analyze what will happen rather than just discovering — sometimes too late to react — the present circumstances.