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.
The F-47 fighter will be run differently than previous fighter programs and share the same mission systems architecture as the Collaborative Combat Aircraft, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin told the Senate Armed Services Committee. That means advances in one will fuel advances in the other.