Speaking to reporters after a visit to San Antonio’s Randolph Air Force Base on Saturday, President Bush again urged Congress to consider making the Pentagon the lead agency for relief operations at home whether a disaster is natural or manmade. Congress is doing that very thing, with reviews of legal precedents underway. However, a key question percolating around the Beltway and beyond, is how much can the US military take on? (DR, 09/22/05)
The Air Force is leaning toward a less-sophisticated autonomous aircraft in the second increment of the Collaborative Combat Aircraft, the services chief futurist said. He also suggested that the next increment of CCA may be air-launched, a la the "Rapid Dragon" experiments conducted by the service in recent years.