As he went down each program on Boeing’s various strike and airlift programs, Darryl Davis, head of the company’s advanced precision engagement and mobility systems, usually concluded with a comment that funding is uncertain. “Based on what we hear … about bills being flowed to the services,” Davis told reporters this morning at AFA’s Washington conference that “it will cut into R&D” in the future years spending plan. “It does not sound good” for aggressive development of new systems, he acknowledged.
As Air Force leaders consider concepts of operations for Collaborative Combat Aircraft, sustainment in the field—and easing that support by using standard parts and limiting variants—should be a key consideration, according to a new study from AFA's Mitchell Institute of Aerospace Studies.