If knowledgeable defense analyst Loren Thompson is right, the Air Force’s effort to produce a single widebody aircraft to replace its trio of older intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance assets is a dead duck. The Quadrennial Defense Review relegated the E-10 multimission aircraft program to a single test aircraft. Now, the Lexington Institute’s Thompson writes, “Insiders say even that will disappear in the 2008 budget.” Earlier this year, Lt. Gen. Stephen Wood, USAF point man for strategic plans and programs, described the situation as a “strategic pause.” According to Thompson, USAF’s entire ISR program is in dire straits. (Read our February article outlining Air Force plans for ISR.)
U.S. Southern Command recently announced its first lethal strike on a suspected narco-trafficking vessel in two months, and the first under a newly formed permanent counter-cartel task force. The U.S. is also reportedly planning to transfer MQ-9 drones to Colombia to bolster its counter-cartel efforts.