At word that the Air Force is trying to corral—instill some sanity, would be more descriptive—the large unmanned aerial vehicle market within DOD, the Army and friends in Alabama have taken offense. Alabama politicians fear loss of program funding and personnel at the Army’s Redstone Arsenal (per Brian Lawson of The Huntsville Times), and Army Brig. Gen. Stephen Mundt, director of aviation, believes USAF has overstepped into ground commander territory (per Jim Wolf of Reuters news service). Gen. Michael Moseley, Air Force Chief of Staff, sees problems if the Air Force doesn’t gain UAV executive agent status—and some lawmakers agree. They want to see an end to costly duplication.
As L3Harris proves its OA-1K Skyraider II special operations aircraft can carry a signals intelligence sensor and electronic attack weapon, a key congressional committee is poised to boost production of the converted Air Tractor prop plane.