Could the Air Force’s decision to divest its brand-new fleet of Global Hawk Block 30 remotely piloted aircraft in Fiscal 2013 be the first step toward a partial shift in the intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance mission from the Air Force to the Navy? That’s a question one defense analyst is posing. After all, the Navy is “significantly increasing its investment in two major surveillance aircraft . . . moving ahead with major purchases of about 115 P-8 maritime radar surveillance [air]planes and 68 or more unmanned Broad Area Maritime Surveillance [air]craft derived from Global Hawk,” wrote Rebecca Grant, president of IRIS Independent Research, in a new white paper issued on May 1. On the other hand, the Air Force is “gutting its capabilities for long-endurance surveillance,” she wrote. Grant wonders why. “Maybe the Air Force can step back from being the primary ISR provider, but we don’t see a new joint concept of [operations] yet to provide a replacement for that,” she stated during a presentation on this topic at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., that same day.
In a brief email Nov. 6, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth laid out a new Cyber Force Generation plan, meant to give U.S. Cyber Command more authority over the employment, training, and equipping of U.S. troops preparing for and waging cyber war. Former Air Force officers and national security officials say the…
