Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz says the Air Force’s intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance community needs to find creative ways to handle the increasing deluge of data coming from sensors on overhead information-gathering aircraft other than just bringing on more intelligence analysts. Those sensors are becoming more sophisticated and increasing in number, as is the size of the service’s ISR fleet. “We can’t continue to throw people at this problem,” Schwartz told the more than 100 attendees at the Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency’s biannual Sensor Rally commanders’ conference that ran May 3-6 at Fort Meade, Md. He added: “The solution needs to be other-than-human power.” Schwartz challenged the agency to apply its in-depth expertise to this challenge. The summit also gave airmen who normally “serve in silence” the opportunity to brief their classified ISR missions to leadership, said Col. John Bansemer, 70th ISR Wing boss. (Air Force release)
The Air Force and Boeing agreed to a nearly $2.4 billion contract for a new lot of KC-46 aerial tankers on Nov. 21. The deal, announced by the Pentagon, is for 15 new aircraft in Lot 11 at a cost of $2.389 billion—some $159 million per tail.