Gen. Norton Schwartz, Chief of Staff, sees the continuation of the C-130J for a wide variety of missions as diverse as weather reconnaissance and gunship, rather than spending money to develop a new capability when research and development dollars are scarce. “We need to take advantage of these platforms where we can go get economies of scale,” Schwartz said in an interview. “We had a period of time where money was readily available, and that time is rapidly coming to a close.”
Members of the House Armed Services Committee say the AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile program has been set back three months due to the ongoing government shutdown. The comment is noteworthy because the JATM's status has been kept tightly under wraps.
