The Air Force may well shift toward smaller, less-capable, but more numerous satellites in the coming years, says Gen. Norton Schwartz, Chief of Staff. In November, Air Force Space Command boss Gen. Robert Kehler proposed such an approach at AFA’s Global Warfare Symposium in Los Angeles. (Transcript of Kehler’s comments.) “I think Bob is onto something,” said Schwartz during a Dec. 22 interview (see above). Such an approach would help to get satellite production into more of an assembly-line mode rather than a hand-built mode, and, by being smaller, the satellites would have to have fewer functions, thereby warding off excessive requirements creep, he said. Schwartz said, too, that “economies of scale” also argue for the small-satellite approach. And, smaller satellites offer the opportunity to “better manage cost, schedule, and capability,” he said.
The last remaining T-1 Jayhawk at JBSA-Randolph, Texas, took its final flight to the "Boneyard" at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., on July 15. The 99th Flying Training Squadron will train pilots using T-6 and simulator until it gets T-7 Red Hawk in fiscal 2026.