One of the Royal Air Force’s newest command centers has no aircraft, boasts a staff of just 20 and operates from a windowless bunker in the heart of the U.K. Yet it is a key component in an increasingly vital international effort to survey, map and understand the largest and arguably most complex battle zone of all.

Even as its limited number of B-2 Spirit stealth bombers continue to realize their capabilities, the U.S. Air Force allows select allies to use the aircraft. A long-standing exchange program under which USAF personnel trade places with those from the Royal Air Force was extended to the B-2 in 2004.

The U.K. Defense Ministry has its share of procurement disasters. The Astute-class submarines are £1 billion ($1.63 billion) over budget; Mk3 Chinook helicopters were mothballed for nine years before being expensively fielded with Mk2 cockpits (see p. 10); and the MRA4 maritime patrol aircraft, a variant of a 60-year-old model, will cost a quarter of the price of a space shuttle and enter service almost a decade late.