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.)
Promotions to the Space Force’s second highest enlisted grade, senior master sergeant, have surged to the highest level in the young service’s history, bolstering the senior NCO corps as officials plan to aggressively expand the force and especially the enlisted corps.