The Air Force may well shift toward smaller, less-capable, but more numerous satellites in the coming years, says Gen. Norton Schwartz, Chief of Staff. In November, Air Force Space Command boss Gen. Robert Kehler proposed such an approach at AFA’s Global Warfare Symposium in Los Angeles. (Transcript of Kehler’s comments.) “I think Bob is onto something,” said Schwartz during a Dec. 22 interview (see above). Such an approach would help to get satellite production into more of an assembly-line mode rather than a hand-built mode, and, by being smaller, the satellites would have to have fewer functions, thereby warding off excessive requirements creep, he said. Schwartz said, too, that “economies of scale” also argue for the small-satellite approach. And, smaller satellites offer the opportunity to “better manage cost, schedule, and capability,” he said.
Dick Cheney’s Legacy with the Air Force
Nov. 6, 2025
Dick Cheney, who died Nov. 3 at 84, is best remembered by most Americans as among the most powerful Vice Presidents in history, a consummate Washington insider who had previously served in the Nixon administration, was Chief of Staff for President Gerald Ford, a Congressman for a decade, and Secretary…
