As he went down each program on Boeing’s various strike and airlift programs, Darryl Davis, head of the company’s advanced precision engagement and mobility systems, usually concluded with a comment that funding is uncertain. “Based on what we hear … about bills being flowed to the services,” Davis told reporters this morning at AFA’s Washington conference that “it will cut into R&D” in the future years spending plan. “It does not sound good” for aggressive development of new systems, he acknowledged.
A semi-autonomous Collaborative Combat Aircraft drone shot down an air-to-air target in a Dec. 8 test supported by the U.S. Air Force, a notable milestone in the development of the loyal wingman-type drones that will join the fleets of the USAF, other American services, and allies and adversaries.
