Despite believing the Air Force should abandon executive agency for higher flying unmanned aerial vehicles, the service’s top leader still thinks USAF is best equipped to be the lead for space. In a Dec. 22 interview, Gen. Norton Schwartz, Chief of Staff, said he doesn’t see any reason why USAF should give up on the idea of being the DOD executive agent for space. Air Force Secretary Michael Donley agrees, having earlier said he would like to see USAF’s space executive role restored. The Air Force has the vast majority of space experience among the services and the most people, by far, working in the field. The Air Force gained the space executive agent role as a result of the 2001 Rumsfeld space commission, but, in March 2005, the Office of the Secretary of Defense took the authority away. Pentagon acquisition czar John Young has come out firmly against the idea of returning this oversight to the Air Force.
A Defense Department team on the ground in Ukraine has been assessing what the country needs to protect itself from air, naval, electronic, and cyber warfare threats as Russian troops have gathered on multiple fronts, a senior Ukrainian defense official told Air Force Magazine, describing an emphasis on what assistance…