Redundant programs must be examined.

• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.
• Position: Defense Insider

One the military's booming industries--the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, or ISR, sector--may have become too bloated after a decade of rampant growth. With budget pressures now looming, this may be one area where the Pentagon may find fat to trim, said Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Chiarelli.

Every branch of the U.S. military operates vast ISR fleets, including large numbers of spy drones of all shapes and sizes, and manned aircraft--fixed - and rotary-wing--equipped with loads of sensors. It is conceivable that there is redundancy and inefficiency across the board, Chiarelli said

It is not unusual for the military services to have overlapping programs. Every service, for instance, has its own air force and its own information networks. Redundancies are justified in some cases, but there are areas where inefficiencies should be targeted, Chiarelli said.

"One of the first areas I would take a look at is ISR," he said. Both the Army and the Air Force, for example, operate similar fixed-wing unmanned air vehicles for ISR...