The top two Air Force leaders briefed reporters at the Pentagon Tuesday on some QDR issues, reprising much of what we’ve already reported. (See DR 12/12/05) One exception is that USAF plans to procure a total of 183 new F-22 Raptors, not 185 as we were told earlier. The plan, according to Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne, includes keeping the F-22 production line going until 2010. He called it a “national imperative” to keep a fifth generation fighter line warm until the next one (the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter) cranks up.
In the face of Chinese war plans to disrupt U.S. command-and-control networks in the event of a conflict, the Air Force needs to focus less on its “connect everything” efforts and prepare its combat aviators to fight without a constant connection to higher-ups, according to a new report from AFA’s…
