Sue Payton, the Air Force’s top acquisition official, says the Air Force may have a “new plan” that would save the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile, according to Rebecca Christie of Dow Jones Newswires (article via CNNMoney.com). JASSM faces the chopping block after recent test failures. In fact, Payton told Pentagon reporters last month that problems with navigation system reliability were leading the service to seek other options. Payton told Christie that the Air Force is working with JASSM-maker Lockheed Martin to develop a “proactive, preventive plan where things aren’t going to break as much as they have.”
The U.S. military is carrying out intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions along the southern border and off the coast of Mexico using U.S. Air Force RC-135 Rivet Joint and U.S. Navy P-8 Poseidon aircraft as part of the Pentagon’s effort to secure the southern border at the direction of President…