Undersecretary of Defense Ashton Carter or Pentagon industrial policy deputy Brett Lambert will be meeting with the heads of about 50 defense subcontractors at the end of May or early June to discuss how they would like the Pentagon to help the industrial base, a Pentagon official reported April 15. The meeting is decidedly not a “last supper” like the 1993 event in which then-Deputy Defense Secretary William Perry strongly advised primes to consolidate or get out of the defense business, because of the anticipated drop in defense spending. The present-day meeting will focus on sustainment issues and topics like relaxed export controls.
The Collaborative Combat Aircraft will be operational in the late 2020s, several years before the Next-Generation Air Dominance family of systems, Air Force officials told the House Armed Services tactical aviation panel. The CCAs will first be “shooters,” then electronic warfare platforms, then sensors, in that order, they added.