Orlando, February 18, 2010—Don’t look for the Air Force to launch any new major programs for the next few years, or perhaps longer, said Air Force Secretary Michael Donley. “For the immediate future, I think our major programs are set,” Donley told reporters at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium and Technology Exposition. Asked if he’s worried the industrial base for critical technologies—like stealth, large military aircraft, fighters—will survive a decade-long new program drought, Donley said he believes work on the new Long Range Strike platform will address “industrial base engineering talent at the high end. But, he said, “We have some immediate challenges out in front of us in terms of solid rocket propulsion” and other industrial base suppliers that may have too little to do to stay in business. Continue
After years of describing to lawmakers and Pentagon leaders the nature of that threat and the key role spacepower plays in deterring conflict in the domain and enabling the rest of the joint force, Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman told reporters during AFA’s Warfare Symposium here that the message appears to…