Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has “reviewed and concurred with the ongoing development” of the Air Force-Navy AirSea Battle concept, an Office of the Secretary of Defense official told the Daily Report. That statement builds upon the more vague comments on the status of the Office of the Secretary of Defense’s blessing made by defense officials last week during a background briefing on the fledgling concept and its newly unveiled office. The new ASB office, staffed by USAF, Marine Corps, and Navy personnel, will play three roles, according to those officials. First, as a multi-service organization, it will facilitate the “interservice and interagency coordination during the development, maturation, and implementation of the concept,” said one of them. Second, it will supervise the implementation of manning, training, and equipping of “integrated air and naval forces,” said this same official. Third, the office will oversee the concept’s execution “over time,” according to the official. For more on AirSea Battle, continue to A Work in Progress
A new Navy missile could fill a long-range air-to-air need for the U.S. Air Force’s fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-generation fighters. The Navy’s portfolio acquisition executive for munitions posted information on the AIM-424 Long Range Air-to-Air Missile online on Aug. 22, the same day it unveiled the project at the service’s…