The unmanned aerial vehicle mission is “a good one” for the air reserve components, Acting Air Force Secretary Michael Donley said Tuesday during a media session at AFA’s Air & Space Conference in Washington, D.C. He noted that the Air Force will be pulling out all the stops to man and equip more UAV capability for the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, given the insatiable demand for full-motion video from ground commanders. (See below for one new initiative focused on providing more active duty UAV pilots.) However, when the wars end and the UAVs and their operators come home, there won’t be as much need for them, said Donley, requiring a flexibility that the Air Guard and Air Force Reserve have shown in switching missions.
The advanced F-47 sixth-generation fighter remains on track to fly in the next two years, the senior Air Force acquisition officer overseeing the program said Feb. 25, as the service continues on its ambitious schedule to debut the air superiority-focused fighter by 2028—only three years after the contract was awarded…
