Valiant Shield is done and the airmen at Kenney Headquarters in Hawaii believe the air operations portion went well. They orchestrated some 2,000 sorties from Kenney’ Pacific Air Operations Center for one of the largest joint exercises in the Western Pacific. Air Force Lt. Gen. David Deptula, the Kenney HQ commander, said the exercise was an opportunity to work out some of the “frictions” that arise in a joint combat environment, allowing planners to work out those challenges in advance.
Anduril and General Atomics will develop their Collaborative Combat Aircraft for the Air Force, beating out Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman, the service announced on April 24. But any of the non-selected companies can compete to actually manufacture the eventual design, the Air Force said.