US Afghan Air War Commander: Air Assets Might Deter Russia from Attacking NATO

By Kris Osborn – President & Editor-In-Chief, Warrior Maven

Intv. with Ret. Lt. Gen. David Deptula

Hello and welcome to Warrior Maven, the Center for Military Modernization. I’m Kris Osborn, very significant guest today and amazing American, the Commander of the Gulf War air campaign as well as Operation Enduring Freedom, retired Lieutenant Colonel David Deptula. He is a former F-15 pilot as well and currently serves as the Dean of the very prestigious Mitchell Institute for Aerospace studies. Sir, it’s a pleasure to have you thank you for your expertise.

Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance

Kris Osborn

Recognizing, of course, that NATO in the US does not want to engage Russia in any kind of fifth generation air combat, one has to think that with these air defenses on the ground, certainly something like F-35s would be a paradigm changing capability, because right now, it’s all fourth generation at the most. 

Ret. Lt. Gen. David Deptula

No, that’s it. That’s true. But once again, what’s at play here is NATO and the United States do not want to take actions that would escalate this conflict into one that would involve all of Europe, as opposed to only Ukraine. 

And so there’s a fine line to walk here, between what capabilities and information to provide Ukraine. And quite frankly, one of the critical elements that is being provided to Ukraine, on behalf of NATO in the United States, is information. The panoply of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance assets that can contribute to the awareness of what the Russians are doing, where their locations are, in what they’re up to, is one of the significant elements that is assisting the Ukrainians in attaining the advantage against their outnumbered forces on the ground and in the air.