The Air Force is interested in incorporating stealth features into its future, air-delivered munitions, says Col. Leonard D’Amico, assistant division chief for combat force application in USAF headquarters. “We are trying to exploit stealth technology into our weapons,” D’Amico told attendees at last week’s Mitchell Institute for Airpower Studies presentation on stealth in Arlington, Va. D’Amico said this applies both to gravity weapons and cruise missiles. One of the reasons for this interest is that traditional weapons coming off of a stealth aircraft are detectable to sensors and could also make the airplane vulnerable to detection. “Weapons are a concern” in that regard, said D’Amico. Speaking at the same event, Col. Michael Fantini, division chief in the same office, said designing weapons with stealth attributes “is certainly a valid and prudent consideration.” (For more from the Mitchell event, see Integration is the Key.)
United Launch Alliance’s new Vulcan Centaur rocket is slated to fly its second national security mission in February—nearly six months after its first operational launch and almost a year after it was certified to fly military payloads for the Space Force.
