Gen. Robert Kehler, boss of Air Force Space Command, the command charged with the nation’s ICBM mission, said work has been ongoing to shore up the Air Force’s nuclear enterprise since the two highly publicized nuclear incidents. He told attendees Tuesday at AFA’s Air & Space Conference, “We have not been waiting; we have not been pausing” in making nuclear mission reforms. He asserted, “We know where the problems are; we’re going to fix them.” For instance, the Air Force has reinvigorated the nuclear inspection regime, making certain the process works for unit commanders rather than against them. “We are putting responsibility back in the hands of our commanders,” he said and noted that more changes are on the way as leadership studies and dissects the various studies and reports on the nuclear mission.
The Air Force is planning to award Northrop Grumman a contract that could allow the RQ-4 Global Hawk to keep flying into 2033. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center posted a presolicitation notice Aug. 17 saying it plans to award Northrop a sole-source contract for development, modernization, retrofit, and…