Military space leaders are putting the preponderance of their efforts into seamlessly integrating space into all other defense functions, particularly in intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance. So said top USAF and defense officers at AFA’s National Symposium on Space in Los Angeles Friday. Gen. Robert Kehler, newly minted head of Air Force Space Command, said he’s aiming for “new math” that makes the integration of air and space not like one plus one equals two, but “20 or 100 or 10,000.” Adding in cyber operations will expand capabilities tenfold again, Kehler said. Without integration, ISR provided by space will get better but not be transformational. However, for the near future, information will still tend to travel through stovepipes, “or perhaps we should call them, cylinders of excellence,” Kehler joked.
An important U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry AWACS command and control plane was among the aircraft damaged in a March 27 Iranian missile and drone attack on Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, people familiar with the matter told Air & Space Forces Magazine.