Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz said his biggest challenge for the balance of his tenure will be managing all the new missions the service must take on with a fixed number of people. Remotely Piloted Aircraft are a key example: USAF is bringing on the uninhabited craft at a brisk rate, but he declared: “We need 140 folks per platform to launch and operate them. … We cannot sustain this package indefinitely.” He said the service would seek greater automation in all phases of RPA operations so that far fewer people can operate the same or more aircraft.
There is a new entrant in the highly competitive field of collaborative combat aircraft—semi-autonomous drones meant to fly alongside manned combat aircraft. Northrop Grumman unveiled its new Project Talon aircraft to a small group of reporters at the facilities of its subsidiary Scaled Composites.
