Next Generation Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) When Sensors are Shooters (original) (raw)

2021, ESD

The trend in ISR is to merge ISR and strike capabilities into the same platform. Future ISR systems will be smaller, lighter, unmanned, and armed with long-range-precision-guided munitions. (Turkish Defense Industries SSB photo) In the fall of 2020, the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War provided a glimpse of what the next generation of Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) will become: precision-guided munitions with active sensors. In the past, ISR platforms primarily found targets for other systems to destroy. The recent fighting in the Caucasus, which involved two, near-equal medium powers, has shown how ISR and Precision-Guided Munitions (PGMs) are now blending to become one. During this conflict, the Azerbaijani forces used strike systems, Unmanned Air Combat Vehicles (UCAVs) and Loitering Munitions (LMs) for ISR. These systems had high-end, active sensors that generated real-time intelligence during combat. In addition, they provided accurate, real-time, battle damage assessment. In the next decade, strike systems will become smaller, less expensive, and better networked. The lessons learned for next generation ISR from this conflict is dramatic, and was a key factor in Azerbaijan's decisive victory. Some of the primary systems used by Azerbaijan, principally the TB2 UCAV and the HAROP LM, provide an important insight into the future of ISR systems.