Pursuing Agent Orange: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s Pacific region tour included a stopover in Vietnam, where among other topics, he talked about the possibility of sharing data compiled by the US military about the health effects of Agent Orange. This was the defoliation chemical sprayed by US aircrews during the Vietnam War and that was later found to be a cause for some forms of cancer. (Read our 2000 article for background on Operation Ranch Hand.)
General Atomics, the maker of one of the Air Force’s first Collaborative Combat Aircraft, has ambitious plans for its family of semi-autonomous drones beyond the FQ-42, including a flying-wing aircraft capable of carrying out both reconnaissance and strike missions. Meanwhile, the Air Force Research Laboratory announced a new program to…