In the wake of the U.S. Air Force leadership shake up, Defense Secretary Robert Gates is directing the service to field six more Predator combat air patrols (CAPs), as well as more Reapers to support operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The order comes shortly after Gates’ first briefing from the new Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) Task Force June 6. He set up the task force in April, explaining during a speech at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., that getting warfighting support from institutional military — namely, the Air Force — was “like pulling teeth.” ... “Now, if Joint STARS picks up something, they’ve got to bring in a second sensor to look at it,” says Bill Lennox, Washington-based senior vice president for Goodrich. That requires, in some cases, waiting for another aircraft to maneuver within range of the target. With a camera onboard, “Once you pick up movement [with the radar], turning a camera on it gives you the ability to identify what is going on...and it shortens the targeting timeline.” This is similar to the concept behind the simultaneous carriage of multiple sensors on the U-2. ...