The First 90 Days: The Congressionally mandated Commission on the National Guard and Reserves lists seven initial findings in its 90-day organizational report, including the belief that “sustained operational use of and potential demands on the reserve components pose challenges that must be addressed.” And, the commission notes that the Pentagon must strike a “balance between the use of the reserve components as an operational and as a strategic reserve.” As we’ve reported earlier, the group has a challenging job. Among its guiding criteria as it contemplates proposed fixes will be whether a change is practical, considers costs, promotes jointness, is fair to members, and does not detract from the Guard’s state missions.
RTX’s Raytheon unit was able to “significantly” extend the range of the AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile using mostly software changes in experimental tests last year, expanding the reach and lethality of the standard U.S. dogfighting weapon, company officials said Sept. 15.
