New information management tools developed by Boeing researchers and the Air Force Research Lab have demonstrated in recent tests that they can dramatically improve the ability of aircraft to acquire, sort and exchange real-time mission data with each other and ground-based command units, according to Boeing officials. Boeing’s Phantom Works engineers and AFRL used the F-15E1 advanced technology demonstrator to test the intelligent software agents, which showed they could autonomously infer and execute actions to access, evaluate, and integrate desired data—allowing aircraft to fully exchange information in real-time with the Global Information Grid.
Members of Congress from both parties expressed frustration and dismay over the abrupt and still-unexplained firing last month of Air Force Gen. Timothy Haugh from his dual role as head of U.S. Cyber Command and director of the National Security Agency.