WASHINGTON — In unusually blunt terms, Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Monday challenged the Air Force, whose leaders are under fire on several fronts, to contribute more to immediate wartime needs and to promote new thinking.
Gates singled out the use of pilotless surveillance planes, in growing demand by commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan, as an example of how the Air Force and other services must act more aggressively.
Gates has been trying for months to get the Air Force to send more unmanned surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft — such as the Predator drone, which provides real-time surveillance video — to the battlefield.
They are playing an increasing role in disrupting insurgent efforts to plant roadside bombs.
“Because people were stuck in old ways of doing business, it’s been like pulling teeth,” Gates said of his prodding. “While we’ve doubled this capability in recent months, it is still not good enough.”
Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said Gates’ complaint about struggling to get more drone aircraft to the battlefield was aimed at the military as a whole.
Gates made his remarks to a large group of officers at the Air Force’s Air University at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala. Noting that they represent the future of Air Force leadership, he urged them to think innovatively and to worry less about their careers than about adapting to changes.
The bulk of Gates’ remarks focused on suggested areas in which the Air Force can adapt to changing times.
