A new Government Accountability Office report praises operational employment of unmanned aerial vehicles in both Afghanistan and Iraq, but it questions the “jointness” of UAV development. GAO auditors attribute some of their concern to US Central Command, saying CENTCOM “believes communications interoperability and payload commonality problems” occur because of “service specific” development that is “insufficiently attentive to joint needs.” For its part, DOD concurred with recommendations on creating greater interoperability, but it took issue with the GAO assertions that the Pentagon should push for payload commonality. The Pentagon response notes, “Unmanned aircraft payload procurement is dependent on service mission requirements, physical design limitations … and the rapid nature of technology evolutions.” (Read our articles on the fight to control UAVs and future plans for UAVs.)
A new White House policy calls for the Pentagon to craft plans for additional space launch facilities to support a projected increase in launch demand that could see the U.S. supporting as many as 1,000 launches by 2030, more than a fivefold increase from 2025.