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 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.