While the Navy may view the F-35 as the last manned fighter—an opinion voiced by Navy Secretary Ray Mabus last week—the Air Force doesn’t agree. Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh, speaking at a Defense One symposium on Wednesday in Washington, D.C., said of Mabus’s remark: “No. I don’t believe that.” In the timeframe Mabus was talking about, Welsh said the Air Force would need “a number of platforms” with human crews aboard. “Keeping a human out of the risk equation is relevant to a point, but it’s not the major point,” explained Welsh. “The human brain … as a sensor in combat is still immensely important in our view,” he said, due to its ability to rapidly assimilate conditions and develop situational awareness. “Until we have a set of sensors that can maneuver as well as a manned platform in every scenario, then you should continue that manned platform,” he said. Remotely piloted aircraft are useful for missions requiring endurance beyond that of a human being, and the Air Force will always use RPAs when “the unmanned platform does the job better,” said Welsh.
The Air Force awarded a $13.08 billion contract to the Sierra Nevada Corporation on April 26 for its Survivable Airborne Operations Center aircraft, the successor to the service’s E-4B “Doomsday” plane. Like the E-4B, officially called the National Airborne Operations Center, the SAOC will be meant to withstand a nuclear attack and keep…