Digital engineering. Open software standards. Edge processing. Connectivity. Autonomy. DevSecOps. The buzzwords are flying as defense contractors jockey to tout their respective capabilities as DoD's plans for Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) begin to manifest -- and new business opportunities.
"This is foundational to who we are," Goldfein says of the new all-domain operations warfighting concept.
The MQ-9B and Gambit Series represent parallel capabilities that address global challenges for security head-on.
Communications, survivable strike, mobility, high-speed vertical lift, and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities are all on AFSOC's modernization wish list.
"The next one we're doing is big. It's big," Air Force Chief of Staff David Goldfein said. It will span bases from Eglin AFB to Nellis AFB; Yuma Proving Ground to White Sands Missile Range. All the joint chiefs plan to be there.
WASHINGTON: The nominee to replace outgoing Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein, Gen. Charles Brown, is expected to continue to be a strong advocate for Goldfein’s vision of all domain command and control to link all sensors to all shooters across the military services. Brown currently is in charge of Pacific air forces. […]
"The fighter jet era has passed," says Musk. The future, he averred, is "autonomous drone warfare."
As threats evolve, the winning model ties digital engineering to manufacturing capacity and a reindustrialized supply chain.
The report to Congress will not include "the full and total and complete bounds of the last dotted i and crossed t of every specific aspect" of how the Air Force will manage space acquisition, Thompson said.
Lt. Gen. David Thompson, vice commander of the Space Force, said "someday" the Space Force mission will "extend to the Moon, to Mars, and beyond" -- likely "within the 30-year plan."
Lockheed Martin is designing what it calls a new Hypersonic Strike Weapon-Air Breathing (which goes by the awful acronym HSW-ab) for DARPA. John Varley, Lockheed's VP for hypersonic weapons, wouldn't provide details due to the program's high level of classification.