Making Peace in the Total Force: Things are strained between the Air Force’s Active, Guard, and Reserve components, Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh said Tuesday, but the differences aren’t irreconcilable, and the Total Force “is not broken.” In a speech at AFA’s Air & Space Conference, he said that the situation is “nobody’s fault,” and the arguments between the three in terms of force structure and size are being made because “everybody’s trying to do what they think is best.” But the three elements are still “within visual range” of each other, he said. Along with the Guard and Reserve leadership, “we’ll do it as quickly and smoothly as possible … we’ll figure it out, I promise you,” Welsh insisted.
Unmanned aerial vehicles are fair game for U.S. Special Operations Command’s armed overwatch platform competition, Air Force Special Operations Command boss Lt. James C. “Jim” Slife told reporters on Feb. 26. However, the MQ-9 Reaper drone might not be up to the challenge in its current form, he suggested during…