Orlando, February 18, 2010—Improving the Air Force’s ability to monitor objects in space remains an imperative, Gen. Norton Schwartz, Air Force Chief of Staff, told attendees at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium. Enhanced capabilities in this realm will allow the US to gauge more accurately if the activities of other spacefaring nations are threatening, he said. They would also enable the Air Force to understand better anomalies in its own space systems, he said. An essential part of this space situational awareness entails continuing to foster the resurgence of “space intelligence analytical and collection capabilities,” said Schwartz. But this process will take time as knowledge accumulated over decades by the old generation of intelligence experts transfers to the incoming cadre of specialists, he said.
In a new 2026 appropriations bill released Jan. 20, Congress included an extra $900 million to save the E-7 airborne early warning and control aircraft from cancelation, an additional $500 million for the F-47 Next-Generation Air Dominance fighter to address “emerging” needs, and $401 million to make up for “economic factors” in…
