Acting Air Force Secretary Michael Donley, Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz, and a small herd of senior generals convened at Bolling AFB, D.C., for an off-site meeting Wednesday to plot a way ahead on a host of pressing Air Force issues. The summit was to decide—in no particular order—what USAF will do to increase the availability of unmanned aerial vehicles in the two combat theaters; whether to actually change over to a new uniform; whether to stick with or abandon the service’s “Above All” recruiting and image-building TV ad campaign; how, when, and where to stand up Cyber Command; and whether to retool the Air Force’s Roadmap, which lays out an overarching plan for every mission and program. The summiteers also aimed to solidify plans to re-establish USAF’s bonafides in the nuclear mission, and, broadly, to restore accountability, confidence, and trust in the service. The leaders want their plan fully vetted and a consensus achieved so that when they present it at the Air Force Association’s Air & Space Conference in Washington, D.C., in two weeks, there won’t be any confusion about the way ahead.
Lockheed Martin projects more than a billion dollars of losses on a classified program, but company officials said April 23 they are confident it will turn profitable by 2028 and become a "franchise" system in the U.S. military.