A few weeks ago, some news media reports proclaimed that the Department of Homeland Security would be given the authority to order shoot downs of aircraft intended as terrorist weapons. McHale put that notion to rest Tuesday, saying, basically, “it ain’t so.” He did say, though, that DOD and DHS had still to work out the finer details.
The KC-Z4, a blended wing body tanker concept being developed by startup JetZero, could fuel larger groups of aircraft at longer range to hold more targets at risk, company officials say.