Secretary of the Air Force Michael Wynne’s latest letter to airmen says the errant shipment of non-nuclear ballistic missile nose cones to Taiwan highlights important lessons that touch on USAF’s core values of integrity, service, and excellence. In addition to having the moral and intellectual courage to do the right thing, integrity also encompasses “going the extra mile to ensure our work is absolutely accurate,” the secretary writes in his April 7 missive. “As we automate more and more, any data errors become part of a larger error set” that could have impact across the joint military community and for the entire nation. Service in this sense means an airman cross checking any part of a process with which he or she is involved. “I need you to be the one to notice when something is not right even if it is not within your immediate purview,” he writes. And the commitment to excellence requires airmen to get the right level of training and take “personal accountability for being ready, willing, and able to execute the mission” correctly and efficiently,” he writes.
There is a new entrant in the highly competitive field of collaborative combat aircraft—semi-autonomous drones meant to fly alongside manned combat aircraft. Northrop Grumman unveiled its new Project Talon aircraft to a small group of reporters at the facilities of its subsidiary Scaled Composites.
