Air Force and Army officials signed an agreement Wednesday that formally provides for the two services to jointly pursue the Joint Cargo Aircraft program, reports Reuters news service. The Army was further along in developing requirements for what it initially called the Future Cargo Aircraft than the Air Force, which had just begun to develop a Light Cargo Program when DOD directed merger of the two programs. There are three contenders that have suggested various airframes. The big question now is whether Congress will restore 2007 funding cut by the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The Space Force is playing midwife to a new ecosystem of commercial satellite constellations providing alternatives to the service’s own Global Positioning Service from much closer to the Earth, making their signals more accurate and harder to jam.
