The Air Force is going to have to get “a lot more disciplined about what we transition from basic science and R&D to development,” Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz told the Daily Report following Secretary Michael Donley’s speech Monday. Asked if R&D—not mentioned among the accounts Donley said USAF would “safeguard”—is coming in for a heavy hit, Schwartz said there will have to be clear lines between basic research and payoff programs. Those technologies not offering undisputed payoff may not be affordable, and “clearly, we will be accepting more risk,” Schwartz said. It’s “not new” that the Air Force will be focusing on exploiting existing technologies more than inventing new ones, he said, and R&D will increasingly focus on technologies with nearer-term maturity.
A new Navy missile could fill a long-range air-to-air need for the U.S. Air Force’s fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-generation fighters. The Navy’s portfolio acquisition executive for munitions posted information on the AIM-424 Long Range Air-to-Air Missile online on Aug. 22, the same day it unveiled the project at the service’s…