Fall 2006 - Air & Space Power Chronicle - Air Force Link

ASPJQuick-LookThe Air Force Needs New GlassesSensor Requirements for Urban OperationsLT COL DAVID L. ROBIE, USAFWE CAN NO longer consider urbanoperations an optional proficiency.The current situation inIraq makes clear that US soldiers,sailors, and airmen must have the capabilitiesand tools to operate effectively in the urbanenvironment. For example, in Thunder Run:The Armored Strike to Capture Baghdad (NewYork: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2004), DavidZucchino chronicles the trials, tribulations,and ultimate success of the taking of Baghdad.Other Iraqi experiences include the attemptto eliminate insurgency in Fallujah in late 2004and more recently in Iraq’s northern provincesin the fall of 2005. Outside Iraq, the USmilitary has engaged in numerous urban conflicts,including those in Panama and Kosovoas well as the stunning loss in Mogadishu,which emphatically changed US foreign policyin Somalia. These past and present examplesnot only give clear indication of the criticalnature of urban capabilities but also foreshadowan even more significant role for urbanoperations in future conflicts.The urban environment has become an essentialresponsibility in modern conflict becauseof significant changes arising from threecurrent trends: the massing of people in urbanareas, the increasing influence and powerof these areas, and the changing face of conflict.Continual movement of the populationfrom a rural to urban environment began withthe industrial revolution and continues withthe world’s urban population growing fourtimes faster than its rural counterpart. Thispopulation movement creates a secondary effectby concentrating influence as urban areasbecome centers of gravity for diplomatic, informational,military (command authority),and economic power. Finally, the end of theCold War and the new world order that hasemerged in the last decade have all but eliminatedthe possibility of heavily armored warfarein open terrain. Future US engagementswill most likely include regional conflicts,failed states, and nonstate actors. Insurgents,terrorists, and small regional states will not attemptto engage the United States in openbattle since US forces enjoy an overwhelmingadvantage in sensing, speed, and firepower.Instead, they will choose urban terrain, wherethey will attempt to remove the asymmetriccapabilities of the United States and try tomass their effects against “soft” civilian targets.These three factors make understanding theurban terrain an essential part of future conflict.Today, we must consider urban operations acore competency of all US military services.BackgroundUnderstanding the urban environment’scomplexity—one that exists on numerouslevels—poses the greatest challenge to urbanwar fighters. Physically complex and extremelydiverse, its terrain includes the urbancanyons of major metropolitan cities, theclose quarters of ancient cities, and the urbansprawl that surrounds both. The physicalcomplexity is also multidimensional, startingfrom rooftops; going through numerousfloors; and ending in subterranean base-37