Defense Secretary Robert Gates, in his widely reported April 21 remarks (see above) at the Air War College, Maxwell AFB, Ala., acknowledged that the Air Force has been “in the process of constant change for decades” with, what he termed “a steady drumbeat of expeditionary operations” since the service “has been at war, more or less constantly, for 17 years.”
The Air Force’s Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile is behind schedule and may significantly overrun its expected cost, which could partially explain why the service is reviving the hypersonic AGM-183 Air-Launched Rapid-Response Weapon.