Gen. Bruce A. Carlson, the head of Air Force Materiel Command, predicts a new dawn for small space systems. He told AFA’s Los Angeles Symposium last week that he sees “significant opportunities” in development of micro satellite programs as exemplified by the XSS-11 Minotaur (launched earlier this year). He added that Air Force Research Laboratory is working to decrease the size and weight of on-board electronics found in key satellite systems. The shift has been accelerated by the Global War on Terrorism, with its heavy demands on GPS satellites and on bandwidth in general, said Carlson.
Unmanned aerial vehicles and autonomous aircraft may provide a solution to operating in heavily contested domains such as the Taiwan Straits, according to a panel of expert who suggested operationalizing artificial intelligence for such purposes sooner rather than later. The group gathered virtually to help launch the Mitchell Institute for…