Boeing announced Monday that it has delivered the 500th Combat Track II airborne intelligence kit to the Air Force. These systems give aircrews on B-1B and B-52H bombers and C-130 and C-17 transports enhanced situational awareness and allow for faster, secure information sharing among these aircraft and ground command centers. “These systems allow aircrews to respond to threats more quickly and effectively,” said Capt. Scott Frank, USAF’s Combat Track program manager.
While U.S. defense officials have spent much of the past decade warning that China is the nation’s pacing threat and its People’s Liberation Army represents an urgent threat in the Indo-Pacific, several defense researchers are skeptical that the PLA has the human capital, the structural ability, or the political appetite…