Air Force's 'hunter-killer' could be new unmanned weapon

VERNON LOEB, THE WASHINGTON POST

Originally published Sunday, April 7, 2002

WASHINGTON --Even with the starring role in Afghanistan played by pilotless Predators armed with Hellfire antitank missiles, Air Force Secretary James Roche says the service is resisting pressure to build another, more capable missile-firing reconnaissance drone.

Instead, the Air Force wants to create what Roche calls an unmanned "hunter-killer" that could employ far more exotic technologies than streaming video in the never-ending quest to link "sensors" to "shooters" on the battlefield.

Roche, former president of Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Electronic Sensors and Systems Sector, says he and other Air Force strategists are also rethinking the F-22, which has for years been envisioned as the supreme air combat fighter aircraft. But things aren't quite so simple anymore, given the new fusion -- demonstrated in Afghanistan -- of fighters in the sky and Special Forces on the ground.

"This idea of hooking back to the Army, hooking back to Special Forces, is turning everybody on," Roche says.

The role modification, Roche says, requires a basic change in the plane's radar that can be accomplished by borrowing technology being developed for the other new fighter plane in development, the Joint Strike Fighter.

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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