Operational Shake-Up: Retired Lt. Gen. Robert Elder said officials in Pacific Air Forces are “very interested” in looking at the “Effective Warfighting in a Contest Enviornment” study, slated for completion in February, as they try to figure out how to continue using remotely piloted aircraft in contested airspace. Speaking at AFA’s Air & Space Conference in National Harbor, Md., Sept. 18, Elder said the Air Force needs “to see if there is a different way to operate RPAs that will allow us to effectively operate even though the environment is degraded.” He said he expects the study to “shake up the way we look at things from an operational level,” specifically in how the Air Force conducts command and control and operates its air operations centers.
A new report from the Government Accountability Office calls for the Pentagon’s Chief Technology Officer to have budget certification authority over the military services’ research and development accounts—a move the services say would add a burdensome and unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.
