ISR Aircraft - Definition, Function, and Technologies

One of the lowest-density platforms in the military aviation fleets is intelligence-gathering aircraft. These are part of the intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance apparatus, critical for gathering information on adversary forces. One of the most common questions asked is what is an ISR aircraft? Simply put, an ISR aircraft is just about any aircraft retrofitted to carry a suite of electronics suited for its particular mission. These include monitoring and intercepting communications, jamming communications, and even acting as a relay or gateway for allied communications. Let’s take a look at what an ISR aircraft is, what they do, and how they are used in the overall concept of operations by U.S. military forces. 

What Is ISR?

ISR is an acronym for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance. It is the entire spectrum of activities about watching or observing the adversary and gathering information along the way. 

The purpose is to amass enough information to provide improved clarity and depth of knowledge. Basically, ISR is what creates and paints a picture of the battlefield for combatant commanders. ISR is a deeply complex topic. It encompasses and receives input of all kinds of information from thousands of sources, from the lowest people on the street to break encrypted communications and everything in between. It depends on assets from all parts of the warfighting machine: naval assets, airborne assets, ground-based, space-based, and so on. 

To provide commanders with the clearest battlespace picture for further decision-making and execution. The information has to be

  • Accurate
  • Timely
  • Relevant 

Optical, radar, or infrared images and electronic communications are examples of information acquired by ISR equipment. 

Types of ISR Operations

For our purposes, let’s focus on aerial ISR operations. It makes sense to operate ISR gathering from the air; the higher, the better. Higher altitude equals improved visibility and more area covered. And as technology improves, ISR missions can be conducted with much faster aircraft. The standard bearer until recently was turboprop-driven aircraft that was forced to operate in the sub-30,000’ altitude range. Switching to jets has broadly increased the altitude (up to FL510 in some cases, but all operate over FL410) and the speed. Modern ISR jets, like Leidos’ ARTEMIS, replace the legacy turboprop aircraft fleet in the Army’s inventory.  

Why Is ISR Important?

So, what makes ISR so important in the first place? 

Gathering reliable intelligence is one of if not the single, most important factor in military mission planning. 

ISR is used on every single level of the battlefield. It starts with the patrol teams talking to the locals about what’s happening. Is the Taliban in the area? Are they threatening you? This is the simplest form of ISR gathering and is called Human Intelligence, or HUMINT. Signals Intelligence (SIGINT), Imagery Intelligence (IMINT), and other technical types of intelligence gathering get more attention. Still, HUMINT is absolutely critical to get a feel for what is happening to the boots on the ground. 

There is no substitute for interpersonal interaction. Early in Operation Iraqi Freedom, units down to the platoon and squad level were given a ‘beat’ to patrol, much like a beat in Brooklyn or Yonkers. The goal was to win hearts and minds by getting to know the locals. Whether or not the strategy worked, what we did learn was that HUMINT is the foundation of ISR work. 

HUMINT fills in all of the gaps that SIGINT, IMINT, etc., are missing. How much can you really learn from an airplane flying eight miles in the air? A lot, but it lacks context. 

So, ISR is a multi-tiered process with a simple idea: you must figure out what the enemy is doing. And like everything else in the Army, the 5 Ws apply. 

  • Who is doing it?
  • What is the enemy doing?
  • When are they doing it?
  • Where are they doing it?
  • Why are they doing it? 

ISR work really does boil down to answering these five questions. These five questions form the basis for every military operation. 

Types of ISR Aircraft

There are dozens of different ISR aircraft models, but only two basic types exist: manned aircraft, and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)

UAVs have been around for years but have really carved out a niche in Iraq and Afghanistan. There are a couple of main advantages to using UAVs. First, they have no personnel onboard, so no pilots are lost if it is shot down or crashed.

Second, their loiter time is only limited by fuel. Crews can be swapped out anytime on UAV missions. Food and bathroom breaks are a non-issue, and so on. These are real and practical concerns that limit the durations of conventional aircraft. 

The most common UAVs in the inventory are 

  • MQ-1C Gray Eagle
  • RQ-4 Global Hawk
  • RQ-7 Shadow
  • MQ-9 Reaper

Manned Aircraft

Over the past two decades of warfare, we have also learned that UAVs are great supporting aircraft, but they cannot be the lead aircraft in any environment. It isn’t practical for a UAV with today’s technology to be large enough (payload issues) to handle the tasks at hand. 

The current fleet of manned ISR aircraft is a long list, but here are the most common. 

ISR Aircraft Technologies: What Makes an Aircraft Good Fit for ISR Roles?

This is a multifaceted question. What made an airplane a good fit in 1980 is not the same as in 2023. ISR aircraft are laden with some of the latest technology, so as technology improves and radically reduces in size, the aircraft demands change. What once required an entire narrow-body jet (Boeing 707 airframe) in the E-8 JSTARS with a full crew of 19 is being replaced with a large business jet (Bombardier Global 6000) in the E-11 BACN.

In a nutshell, though, a good ISR aircraft needs to have the following:

  • Extended range/loiter time
  • High altitude cruise
  • Fast cruising speed to get on location

Fortunately, modern business jets can do all of these with excellent efficiency. Also, parts are easily sourced and procured since they are commercial off-the-shelf products.  

Remarkable ISR Aircraft

A blanket statement is that all ISR aircraft are remarkable. The RC-12X Guardrail might take the cake due to longevity alone. The Guardrail program has been in service continuously since 1971. The program is outdated now, though, and in the first stages of replacement by the Leidos ARTEMIS program, which uses the common and highly reliable Bombardier Challenger 650. The E-11A BACN is also a remarkable platform, mainly because nobody even really knew about it for years, even though it was operating in Afghanistan continuously from 2009 through the withdrawal in 2021. 

Conclusion

ISR aircraft are an integral part of the overall ISR mission, but they are no replacement for other types of intelligence gathering. However, a large part of the overall narrative of the area is gleaned from data gathered by aerial assets. The best example of this was the Colombian government pinpointing Pablo Escobar’s exact location using aerial ISR assets. Without these, he would have never been found. This is one of the finest examples of SIGINT working to triangulate signals and find a target. The mission hasn’t changed much since then, but the technology has. Guardrail gives way to ARTEMIS, JSTARS to BACN, and likely much more in the coming years as ISR reinforces itself as a backbone piece of military operations planning. 

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