It’s doubtful that any platforms dedicated to a sole purpose will survive the tight budgets of the coming years, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz said last week at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Fla. “We’re long past the point where we can have single-mission or point-mission capabilities,” said Schwartz, adding that all systems will have to be able to swing from “high-end, general-purpose applications to lower-end, irregular warfare.” Bombers with targeting pods are an example, he said. All platforms will have to become “increasingly versatile,” said Schwartz. He continued, “Your Air Force, if it means anything, means versatility.” (For examples of the versatility that targeting pods give bombers, read B-1B Uses Sniper in Combat and Novel Role for Big Bomber.)
The Space Force should take bold, decisive steps—and soon—to develop the capabilities and architecture needed to support more flexible, dynamic operations in orbit and counter Chinese aggression and technological progress, according to a new report from AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.
