We missed the hint earlier this month of a significant change within the Air Staff. It was the announcement that the Air Force has tapped Lt. Gen. David Deptula for assignment as the Air Force’s deputy chief of staff for intelligence. (Deptula currently serves as vice commander of Pacific Air Forces and commander of the Kenney Warfighting Center.) As of March, intelligence had been part of the job of the director of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance within the DCS for air and space operations.
The Air Force wants to pump more than $12 billion over the next five years into its new affordable long-range missiles program and recently asked industry to push the flights of some of those munitions beyond 1,200 miles.