The Pentagon’s top acquisition official, Ken Krieg, says he’ll “withhold judgment” until he’s had a chance to read the Government Accountability Office criticism that the Air Force didn’t fill all the squares in citing a preference for a hybrid tanker-cargo hauler in its KC-X competition. However, he left no doubt during a press conference March 15 that he believes the bean counters missed the big picture. Krieg noted that the Mobility Capability Study offered a “pretty extensive look” at mobility, concluding that “if the price was right for doors and floors,” that the agility of a tanker also being able to haul people and cargo in a sustaining operation “made a lot of sense inherently and analytically.”
The use of a military counter-drone laser on the southwest border this week—which prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to abruptly close the airspace over El Paso, Texas—will be a “case study” on the complex web of authorities needed to employ such weapons near civilian areas and the consequences of agencies…
