An Air Force official has told Dow Jones Newswires that the service’s plan to become the lead agent for higher-flying unmanned aerial vehicles could save DOD some $1.7 billion over the next six years. Rebecca Christie reports that USAF’s technical advisor for intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance integration and planning, Bruce Nelson, attributes the savings primarily to reduced duplication of effort through “centralized purchases.” This is not the first time the Air Force has ventured down this road, and, once again, it has come under fire.
The Pentagon plans to use U.S. Air Force C-17s and C-130s to deport 5,400 people currently detained by Customs and Border Protection, officials announced Jan. 22, the first act in President Donald Trump’s sweeping promise to crack down on undocumented immigrants and increase border security.