Obscured by the attention focused on the Quadrennial Defense Review and various mobility studies is a Defense Acquisition Board review of the future of Global Hawk—the highly praised unmanned aerial reconnaissance vehicle that was rushed while still in development to the war in Afghanistan. The news is good, according to a decision memo from Kenneth Krieg, DOD’s acquisition point man who also serves as the chairman of the DAB. His memo states, “The board members agreed that this program is critical to providing a persistent intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capability to the warfighter.” Though that fact is completely obvious, it’s still good to hear a DOD official say it outright.
As Air Force leaders consider concepts of operations for Collaborative Combat Aircraft, sustainment in the field—and easing that support by using standard parts and limiting variants—should be a key consideration, according to a new study from AFA's Mitchell Institute of Aerospace Studies.