Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, says he agrees with the idea that operational control of unmanned aerial vehicles flying above 3,500 feet should rest with a Joint Force Air Combat Commander, “normally an Air Force [officer].” Speaking with defense reporters in Washington Tuesday, Pace said that it’s “not a bad idea to take a look at all UAV operations, just to see who ought to be on the control stick, so to speak, for those operations.” He added that it makes “absolute good sense to me” that UAVs be deconflicted with other aircraft by virtue of being on the air tasking order. However, he avoided saying he agrees the Air Force should become DOD’s UAV executive agent. Instead, he expressed sympathy for other services that worry a move to eliminate duplication of effort will inadvertently “override the needs of the troops on the ground” by forcing all UAVs to carry “some kind of generic package” of sensors and other capabilities.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth this week released strategies meant to focus the Pentagon’s “alphabet soup” of innovation organizations and proliferate artificial intelligence—moves that experts say could provide the structure needed to make the military’s efforts to integrate and field new technology more effective.
