Meanwhile, Air Force leaders continue to press Congress to allow the service to manage its own inventory of aircraft, saying that without that control the service faces “risk” in its ability to meet future requirements. In a statement to the House Armed Services Committee Wednesday, Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne and Gen. Michael Moseley, Chief of Staff, noted that 14 percent of its aircraft are “either grounded or operating under mission-limiting flight restrictions.” They asserted that “current legislative restrictions” would cost the service “up to $1.7 billion annually through 2013.”
A recent Air Force contract to buy up to $50 million worth of small drones from Anduril Industries may soon allow the service’s special operations command to transform its MQ-9 Reapers into drone-launching motherships.
