Considering the heat Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has heaped on USAF over the past few years, his actions at Thursday’s Capitol Hill hearing on the Air Force budget were relatively benign. He pointed out that a lot of the ongoing military recapitalization is taking place in the Air Force and asked, “Do you think at some point we’re going to run into a brick wall?” He then asked service leader Michael Wynne to undertake a study of the costs of the new acquisitions, analyzing recent historic data on weapon system cost escalation to enable lawmakers to make educated decisions about where to spend. But, then McCain said, “If we’re going to have to make a decision between F-22 and Joint Strike Fighter, I’d like to make that decision sooner rather than later.” He added, “I’m not saying we are.” Hmmmm.
The Department of the Air Force has identified 50 programs that will make up the core of its contribution to the Pentagon’s joint all-domain command and control effort, branding them part of the “DAF Battle Network,” according to newly-released budget documents. The DAF Battle Network programs span multiple offices and agencies…