Senior commanders recently called at the defense industry to produce technologies that give special operations forces more situational awareness, better networking and communications and more precise location and targeting capabilities.

Officials from across U.S. Special Operations Command, including commanders of its service components and the theater special operations commands, laid out their wish lists earlier this month on the annual Special Operations Forces Industry Conference here.

All noted the unprecedented capabilities the defense industry has brought to help special operations forces succeed prior to now 12 years of conflict. But seeking to the longer term — the drawdown in Afghanistan, budget constraints and a refocus at the Asia-Pacific region and other parts of the globe beyond the center East and Southwest Asia — they said they are going to need more.

So despite budget constraints and uncertainties, efforts must continue making sure that special operations forces have the tools they’ll should achieve missions starting from building partner capacity to irregular warfare and counterterrorism, the commanders emphasized.

At the head in their list are improved intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets and higher processes for sifting in the course of the mountains of knowledge streams to color a more complete operational picture.

SOCOM’s current acquisition efforts are interested by equipping both manned and unmanned fixed-wing assets with intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities suitable for various global requirements, Navy Adm. Michael McRaven, the SOCOM commander, reported to Congress earlier this year.

“We must have a capability to continue to look large data bases to spot enemies and data that helps us understand and provides us clues into what (violent extremist) networks are doing available,” Army Lt. Gen. Joseph L. Votel, the commander of Joint Special Operations Command, told the Tampa assembly.

And in support of Navy Adm. William H. McRaven’s vision of a world special operations forces network, Votel underscored the necessity for knowledge management and data storage and sharing technologies to support it.

“We want every advantage before we lock horns with an adversary, and that’s knowing what they’ve got available to them after which countering it with decisive action,” Navy Rear Adm. Sean A. Pybus, commander of Naval Special Warfare Command, told the assembly.

What’s needed, the commanders agreed, are more universal systems to exchange people who work only on specific platforms.

“We must have plug-and-play ISR packages that permit us to choose the correct tool for the appropriate environment, and be capable of work in a standardized fashion within the aircraft that we’re operating around the enterprise,” Votel said.

Marine Col. Michael Sweeney, deputy commander of Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command, echoed the necessity for a single, multitiered network to consolidate what five and infrequently six sets of kit now do. “We are increasing the load at the force from a load perspective,” he said.

“We are system agnostic,” said Army Maj. Gen. Michael S. Repass, the commander of Special Operations Command Europe. “We don’t care what it’s, as long … because the communications have compatibility with regardless of the distribution network is.”

Army Lt. Gen. Charles T. Cleveland, the commander of U.S. Army Special Operations Command, said the systems which have proven themselves in Afghanistan will remain critical during the remainder of that mission and into the longer term.

But looking ahead, he also recognized the fine line between becoming overly depending on technology and ensuring enough redundancy “to make certain we’re not crippled if we lose something as an ability.”

Lt. Gen. Eric Fiel, the commander of Air Force Special Operations Command, said he sees little decrease in future demand not just for ISR, but additionally for mobility and strike capability. As wartime requirements decrease, the command is evaluating its portfolio to make certain it’s postured to offer what future missions will demand, he said.

The first of as much as 10 CV-22 Osprey slated to be based in Mildenhall, England, are expected to reach next month to increase the reach of U.S. special operations forces supporting both U.S. European Command and U.S. Africa Command, Fiel said.

The MC-130J Commando II is also slated for the eu theater, with 12 to be fielded to produce “a greatly-needed capability to both Special Operations Command Africa and Special Operations Command Europe,” he added.

Naval Special Warfare Command is undergoing an analogous assessment of its inventory, as its SEALs and special boat teams transition back to their traditional maritime environment, Pybus said.

A new Maritime Mobility Roadmap, approved by McRaven, demands a family of vessels – starting from high-end, stealth, long-range penetrating craft to a multimission craft which may launch from various ships for operations in littoral waters.

But Pybus also noted the will for other hardware suited for the maritime domain: refreshed rebreathers, propulsion devices, sleds and weapons which can work both underwater and around the beach.

“There is equipment that our partners have, quite frankly, it truly is better than ours, because we spent the past decade fighting ashore,” he said “It is time to go forward in order that our troops have the correct that there’s accessible for you to succeed.”

While laying out their immediate and future requirements, the commanders made clear they understand the commercial realities facing the full military.

“We are going to should do things smartly and efficiently, because we just won’t have every thing which were available to us up to now,” Pybus said. That, he acknowledged, will mean using legacy systems to the very end in their life cycles.

“But you could accessorize them and make improvements to them to lead them to better,” he told the industry representatives. “And that’s what we’re going to be in search of from lots of you.”