The Air Force’s top intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance officer, Lt. Gen. David Deptula, took a tour recently in Southwest Asia to see how the intel airmen have implemented a centralized mission planning cell and modified tactics and techniques to accommodate the war on terror. He also took time to meet with British airmen, whose GR-4 Tornados are providing intel to ground forces. Deptula is at the center of USAF efforts to reinvent ISR and the ongoing unmanned aerial vehicle executive agent brouhaha.
The rate of building B-21 bombers would speed up if the fiscal 2026 defense budget passes. But it remains unclear how much capacity would be added, and whether the Air Force would simply build the bombers faster, or buy more.
