The congressionally mandated National Commission on the Structure of the Air Force will hold its first public hearing on June 4 in the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C., according to a commission release. Retired Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Dennis McCarthy will serve as chairman of the eight-member panel; former Air Force Undersecretary Erin Conaton is the vice chair. The commission is charged with conducting a “comprehensive study of the Air Force’s structure to determine if and how the structure should be modified to best fill current and future mission requirements with available resources,” states the release. Panel members held their first internal meeting on April 30. Congress directed the commission to provide a report with its recommendations by Feb. 1, 2014.
A combined Navy and Air Force program is seeking to build a smaller version of a ubiquitous air-to-air missile that could give advanced aircraft, such as the Collaborative Combat Aircraft, greater magazine depth in a high-end fight.