The Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. Michael Mullen, told attendees at the rollout of the Navy’s first EA-18G Growler jamming aircraft that the service is about to embark on a year-long overhaul of national maritime strategy. “Times have changed,” Mullen said, and the Navy and Marine Corps future needs a comprehensive re-think. He plans to involve lots of thinkers, from the Naval War College to industry to Washington think tanks, such that the final document will be a lasting plan that will “survive political changes, CNO changes” and the other vagaries of strategy.
The six-week government shutdown did not affect the hours flown by Air Force pilots, a service spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine—avoiding what could have been a major blow at a time when flying hours are already lower than they have been in decades.
