Marine Corps Gen. James E. Cartwright, head of US Strategic Command says there are entities within DOD that “would like to stay in the industrial age, [but] the reality is we are in the information age. And the information age is global.” Speaking at the Fletcher conference in Washington Thursday, Cartwright said that when Pentagon officials set up STRATCOM, they tried to envision operations in 2012, and, in his view, they got it about right. However, Cartwright emphasized, the command must accelerate its strategy development for its new information operations role and for both kinetic and non-kinetic operations to be able to meet STRATCOM’s global responsibilities.
The Air Force plans to add external weapons pylons on the B-1B bomber, both to increase the number of aircraft that can test hypersonic missiles and expand the Lancer’s loadout as USAF transitions to the B-21 bomber.