The UAS study foresees unmanned aircraft flying “counter-air operations similar to [Operations] Deny Flight, Northern [Watch], and Southern Watch,” all long-running air exclusion operations in the 1990s. These, said the study, “may quite conceivably be supported by crews, operational staffs, and CAOCs that substantially remain in either CONUS or established headquarters far away from the point of intended operational effects.” Success in this area “hinges on development of increasing levels of autonomy,” the study concludes.
Amid NATO’s continued push to ramp up air defenses in Eastern Europe, Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall swung by seven allied countries to boost relations last week, including those on Russia’s and Ukraine’s doorstep.