The Defense Intelligence Agency, responsible for providing the US military with all-source intelligence, will celebrate its 50th birthday on Saturday. “We are more forward-deployed than ever, operating alongside our combat troops in harm’s way,” said DIA Director Army Lt. Gen. Ronald Burgess. “DIA has an entire generation of intelligence professionals who know only wartime service. . . . They are very good at what they do, they’re committed to the mission, and they’re the best we’ve ever had.” The agency has become “pretty adaptive” since its start on Oct. 1, 1961. In its first major challenge, DIA in 1962 played a key role in finding Soviet nuclear-capable ballistic missiles in Cuba. Most recently, it’s been supporting NATO’s air campaign in Libya. (AFPS report by Cheryl Pellerin)
A combined Navy and Air Force program is seeking to build a smaller version of a ubiquitous air-to-air missile that could give advanced aircraft, such as the Collaborative Combat Aircraft, greater magazine depth in a high-end fight.