If the Air Force is to replenish its depleted inventory of precision weapons, it must have a more stable funding stream, uniformed acquisition chief Lt. Gen. Arnold Bunch said on March 16. “If we really want to build up” the precision weapons inventory, “longer term, and if we want to grow farther than where we are today, I think we’re going to have to make a commitment to industry” so they know it’s safe to invest in more workers and production lines, Bunch said at an AFA-sponsored, Air Force breakfast in Arlington, Va. “What we can’t do is, ‘dollars in, dollars out, dollars in, dollars out,’” in a chronic seesaw of funding. “If we really want industry to do this, we’re going to have to have a stable line of funding for weapons for years to come so they know it’s worthwhile to put that investment in there so they can get a return. And I want them to get a return, I don’t want them to lose money.”
The Air Force is leaning toward a less-sophisticated autonomous aircraft in the second increment of the Collaborative Combat Aircraft, the services chief futurist said. He also suggested that the next increment of CCA may be air-launched, a la the "Rapid Dragon" experiments conducted by the service in recent years.