Lt. Gen. David Deptula, USAF’s intelligence leader, told reporters at the Pentagon that there were several factors driving the planned reorganization of the Air Force’s intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance apparatus, including a need to eliminate a costly “disjointed approach to ISR.” He wants to prevent recurrences of system incompatibilities such as the one between U-2 and Global Hawk platforms and the Distributed Common Ground System that will take 20 months and $17 million to rectify. Deptula also said that the service needed to position itself to “viably compete for joint and interagency positions.” And, that is why Deptula asked the Air Force Chief of Staff to increase the number of intel general officer spaces, leading the service to reduce the number of general officer billets it will cut as part of its current force drawdown.
There is a new entrant in the highly competitive field of collaborative combat aircraft—semi-autonomous drones meant to fly alongside manned combat aircraft. Northrop Grumman unveiled its new Project Talon aircraft to a small group of reporters at the facilities of its subsidiary Scaled Composites.
