JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND-- Prospective U.S. and Partner Nation students attending the Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance course at the Inter-American Air Forces Academy will find a newly updated course that advances National Defense Strategy priorities, implements current Air Force ISR benchmarks, exceeds AETC curriculum standards, and supports Western Hemisphere initiatives.
Approximately 30% of the ISR Fundamentals Course was recently updated to target fundamentals, space operations, collection management and critical thinking, with much needed updates to match changes throughout the Air Force since the last course update in 2014.
“The most impactful additions though have been the seven practical exercises that will allow the students to implement what they have learned and give them a chance to brief their material to leaders at the tactical, operational, and strategic levels during their time in the ISR Fundamentals Course at IAAFA,” said Capt. Marissa Gaytan, ISR instructor, who is also flight commander of the Information Warfare Training Flight at the 837th Training Squadron.
Instructors worked for more than a year in order to implement the modernized course. They first learned about the requirements from AFSOUTH and AFNORTH, and then visited the Intelligence schoolhouse at Goodfellow Air Force Base, to see firsthand the material that Intelligence professionals were learning. The final step was critically examining the information before implementing it into the academy’s Spanish ISR Fundamentals Course.
Gaytan expressed that keeping courses updated is a must as the information domain changes rapidly.
“We must continue to stay up-to-date with the latest requirements for the area of responsibility and the latest intelligence capabilities to ensure we’re building partnership capacity and interoperability between the United States and our Partner Nations,” Gaytan said.
This effort is component of a larger IAAFA strategy aimed to modernize its academic offerings across 32 courses, implement the latest technical training methodologies, and strengthen the academy’s role as a central element of the USAF’s security cooperation enterprise.