Gen. Ron
ald Keys, head of Air Combat Command, for one is ready to restart the B-52 standoff jammer program. Speaking with defense reporters in Washington Thursday morning, Keys acknowledged, as Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley had earlier, “We got enamored with everything it could do instead of just filling the gap that needed to be filled, which is essentially low band search and early warning radars.” The two senior leaders agree also “if the price starts to get away from us again, we’ll kill it again,” asserted Keys. For Round 2, Keys wants a “meat and potatoes core component jammer” utilizing 56 B-52 bombers.
The Air Force’s propulsion directorate wants to rapidly develop and field new propulsion technologies in the coming years, and plans to use a new, $16 billion contract vehicle to do so, according to a March 13 notice.