Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz used the occasion of his Oct. 30 address at the 41st Airlift Tanker Association conference in Nashville, Tenn., to convey once again the imperative of successfully completing the KC-X tanker competition and getting new aerial refueling aircraft on the ramp before not too long. “Look, when you’re in the World Series, and you’re 0 and 2, you have to dig deep,” said USAF’s top uniformed officer, using baseball-speak to get his point across. He continued: “And we’re 0 and 2 in the tanker business. This is the World Series now. This is not only important for the Air Force to bring KC-X home, this is vitally important to the reputation of defense acquisition generally, and, I would argue, even the reputation of our industry partners.” (Nashville report by Mark Voorhis)
Since President Donald Trump first unveiled his “Golden Dome” missile defense initiative in late January, much of the focus for it has been focused on space—how the Pentagon may deploy dozens, if not hundreds, of sensors and interceptors into orbit to protect the continental U.S. from missile barrages. But the Air…