For its part, the Air Force is pursuing a new long-range strike platform, which Michael Wynne, Secretary of the Air Force, said could be manned or unmanned, but he leans toward the latter. “I’m a huge unmanned vehicle proponent,” he said at a Capitol Hill seminar Wednesday. He maintained that the Air Force would continue to make a heavy investment in unmanned vehicles, because they solve a key issue—endurance in the target area. A single-seat manned aircraft can last 11 hours, tops, while a Global Hawk can persist for more than 24 hours.
The U.S. military conducted strikes on Iranian targets around the Strait of Hormuz on May 7, as the conflict with Iran flared up again—though officials say the ceasefire remains in effect.