The Air Force might have to field more than 65 remotely piloted aircraft orbits, Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz hinted on Tuesday at AFA’s Air & Space Conference. In a press conference, Schwartz said, “We’re at 59 orbits today. We’re going to 65, and perhaps higher, as mandated.” Schwartz said there’s “no question” about the Air Force’s commitment to RPA funding, but he warned that intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance doesn’t have a blank check. “There will not be the resources for multiple good ideas,” he said. They will have to be distilled down to “the things we really want to pursue, those things with the highest payoff and, probably, the least development cost.”
The U.S. military is maintaining a beefed-up presence in the Middle East, including fighters and air defense assets, following the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities June 22 and subsequent retaliation by the Iranians against Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.
