The Air Force’s Light Cargo Aircraft program and the Army’s Future Cargo Aircraft program officially are now one—the Joint Cargo Aircraft. Confirmation of a formal agreement came Friday afternoon as Brig. Gen. Andrew Dichter, Air Staff deputy director for joint integration, and Brig. Gen. Stephen Mundt, director of Army aviation, briefed reporters at the Pentagon. Request for proposals should go out within two weeks. And, within two years, the Army expects to field its first JCA to begin replacing its C-23 Sherpa fleet. The general officer tag team discounted any reported disputes between the services over the program, saying service leaders would approve a formal agreement by May.
House lawmakers are encouraging the Air Force and U.S. Special Operations Command to work together as each pursues long-range, long-endurance reconnaissance drones. Both entities are investing in unmanned assets that can slip into highly defended areas, loiter over a particularly valuable target for days at a time, and traverse multiple…