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.)
The Space Force has selected six commercial space domain awareness companies to support military operations with both steady-state and surge capacity, as part of the service’s new Commercial Augmentation Space Reserve.