Defense secretary criticizes Air Force

Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Monday criticized the Air Force for not sending enough pilot-less aircraft to Iraq and Afghanistan.

“I've been wrestling for months to get more intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets into the theater,” Gates said in a speech at Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base in Alabama.

{mosads}"Because people were stuck in old ways of doing business, it's been like pulling teeth," Gates said. "While we've doubled this capability in recent months, it is still not good enough."

In his speech, Gates praised the Air Force’s overall contribution to both wars but called on the service to do more.

He said he wanted the Air Force to deploy more unmanned aerial vehicles

(UAVs) such as the Predator, a high-flying drone that not only performs surveillance and reconnaissance, but also carries missiles.

Gates also called on the other services to rethink their approaches in an age of asymmetric warfare.

Gates said he set up a Pentagon task force last week to address his concerns. Air Force officials said that they have been concerned about the rush to train Predator controllers because the fast pace does not allow for a thorough qualification of the forces.

Last year, the Air Force and the Army were tangled in controversy over which service should control and purchase high-flying UAVs. The Army has a UAV similar to the Predator in development, called Sky Warrior.

The Air Force made its case last year to become the executive agency for all medium- and high-altitude UAVs – a move that would have affected missions, budgets, facilities and training. The Pentagon leadership shot down the Air Force’s proposal and said that no single service would own and operate such aircraft.

Gates’s criticism comes during a controversial time for the Air Force. The Pentagon inspector general released a report last week documenting that a $50 million contract for the Thunderbird aircraft used at air shows was “tainted with improper influence.” Gates also has been at odds with the Air Force leadership over the service’s push to buy more F-22 Raptor fighter jets.

On top of a string of contract awards protested with the Government Accountability Office, the Air Force is now in the middle of the political fallout for not choosing Boeing’s 767 for its new refueling tanker and going with an Airbus plane instead.