NATO drone surveillance hours surge amid growing appetite for intel

ORLANDO — Demand for insights derived from NATO’s intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance outfit is swelling.

The NATO ISR Force, comprising greater than 400 people working from Europe, logged 30% more flight hours in 2023 than the yr prior, in accordance with Scott Bray, the assistant secretary general for intelligence and security.

The force’s flights covered the alliance’s eastern flank, notable for its proximity to the Russia-Ukraine war; the Baltic and Black seas; and the High North following Finland’s membership, he told GEOINT conference attendees in Florida on May 7.

“The North Atlantic security environment is under threat,” said Bray, who visited Kyiv two weeks ago. “Russia’s illegal war against Ukraine has created the largest conflict on the European continent for the reason that Second World War, and the Euro-Atlantic just isn’t at peace.”

The ISR Force has five of its own unmanned RQ-4D Phoenixes. The remotely piloted aircraft are based on designs by Northrop Grumman, the third-largest contractor on the planet when ranked by defense-related revenue. The corporate earned $32.5 billion in 2022, in accordance with Defense News Top 100 evaluation.

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The drones are modified to fulfill NATO information-sharing and communication requirements and are outfitted with surveillance sensors. Together, the force can cover greater than 62,000 square-miles a day.

Bray said “the appetite, the expectations and the centrality of intelligence to NATO is just growing.” Militaries all over the world are increasingly turning to unmanned technologies to observe faraway forces and augment targeting on the front lines.

The NATO ISR Force was previously often known as the NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance Force. The name change was motivated by a growing set of missions.

The force recently participated within the Nordic Response exercise, focused on northern Norway, Sweden and Finland. It featured greater than 20,000 troops from greater than a dozen countries.

“In today’s complex environment, decision-ready, actionable intelligence provided on the speed of need is certainly one of our biggest weapons,” Air Force Brig. Gen. Andrew Clark, the ISR Force commander, said in an announcement on the time. “Because the alliance’s premier ISR unit, NISRF provides the muse for informed decisions, allowing NATO to anticipate threats and react quickly.”