There is fresh concern that the Air Force plans to abandon development of the E-10 multi-mission aircraft that would potentially have replaced three older intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance assets. Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute said this summer that even the single test aircraft would disappear from the 2008 budget, and he repeated that belief at AFA’s Air & Space Conference last week. Now, Reuters news service not only quotes Thompson but an unnamed “senior defense official” who said the E-10 falls into the category of “things that we would like” but don’t have the money for. Hmmmm.
The design of the launch facilities for the Air Force’s new Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile are likely to undergo major revision, posing yet another challenge for the much-delayed and over-budget program to modernize the land-based component of America’s nuclear triad, officials said.