It seems the two Senators from New Mexico who announced to the world that the Air Force had found a “candidate mission” for Cannon AFB, N.M., were getting their information from a draft of a letter sent for review to Gen. Michael Moseley by his staff. The Portales News-Tribune cleared up the confusion by uncovering the “real” letter, which was signed by the USAF Chief of Staff and addressed to Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), chairman of the Appropriations subcommittee on defense. In it, the candidate line is gone, and, instead, Moseley says USAF will complete a “comprehensive reuse study” with “all appropriate speed.” Our apologies to Mr. William Anderson, who did not get the cart before the horse.
There is a new entrant in the highly competitive field of collaborative combat aircraft—semi-autonomous drones meant to fly alongside manned combat aircraft. Northrop Grumman unveiled its new Project Talon aircraft to a small group of reporters at the facilities of its subsidiary Scaled Composites.
