Far from it.
Cover you arc! Come and get me if you see anything.
Observe and Report.
C3/C4/C5/I/S/TA/R or some combination there of. That is not a definition of an organization. That is a list of functions that every organization must perform.
ISR/ISTAR is not a discrete organization.
Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition, Reconnaissance are all functions of any unit regardless if it is stuck in a trench, driving around the countryside, flying over head or bobbing on the briny.
The problem has always been for commanders to see what soldiers see.
10 MUSD tools designed to see the world through a straw on a single screen permits the commander to see a small portion of what his soldiers could see if they were looking and didn't have their eyeballs in the muck at the bottom of a trench spraying and praying with their rifles.
Specialty tools and formations are a Top Down asset that enhances command authority.
Mavik Drones and VBats are Bottom Up assets that enhance both command awareness and soldier effectiveness. The awareness and the effectiveness are enhanced by Personal Role Radios and the ability to chuck grenades (with or without grenatenwerfers). Grenades are nice because you can keep your head down when you lob them and close counts.
That low level situational awareness, and the ability to respond personally, effectively and immediately to a threat, does a lot to keep the fear at bay, enhance mission command and create a more effective fighting force. Like the Ukrainians.
Waiting in the bottom of a trench for a commander to finally find you a target and order you over the top when the whistle blows produces Russian results.
C5ISR?
How about SCIRT?
Surveillance - Cover your arc and Observe
Communication - Report
Intelligence -Analyse
Reconnaissance - Verify
Targeting - Task
Surveillance Communication = Observe
Intelligence Communication Reconnaissance Communication = Orient
Targeting Communication = Decide
All that is left to do is ACT
And repeat the cycle.
Many times, locally, and fast.
And communicate the ongoing results.
ISR is an infantry function whether leg, abn, heli, marine, motor, mech or armour.
ISR is a cavalry function whether light, medium or heavy
ISR is an airforce function whether fixed wing, rotary or unmanned
ISR is a navy function whether with Mk I eyeballs freezing on a bridge wing or with head phones on a submarine.
The faster you can close the OODA loop the better. That means ensuring that the person covering their arcs has the tools to react effectively and the authority to make that decision.
In other words you are looking for, in my opinion, a flat, aware, well equipped organization with distributed authority. And to me that means lots of small, cheap systems that allow the man or woman in the trench to be aware of what is happening outside the trench and being able to act effectively and communicate without having to raise their head into the enemy's line of sight.
Drones were originally sold as being cheap and plentiful to do the dull and dirty work. Somewhere along the way we ended up with exquisite masterpieces that are too costly to build in numbers and require byzantine command structures to decide where, when and how to allocate those scarce resources. And at the end of the day the Commander sees a patch of ground through a straw and his subordinates have to wait for him to tell them what they are facing.
breakingdefense.com
www.avinc.com
shield.ai
asc.army.mil
www.naval-technology.com
