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Video: USAF Secretary Talks Space Weapons, Autonomous Aircraft Goals
National Harbor, Maryland—The U.S. now has on-orbit space control weapons, Air Force Secretary Troy Meink announced in a keynote at AFA’s Air, Space and Cyber conference, while also laying out aggressive goals for autonomous aircraft.
Meink declined to elaborate further on the space weapons during a later fireside chat and demurred when asked whether his remarks referred to kinetic or non-kinetic weapons. “We continue to ensure we remain ready to meet the challenges of evolving threats wherever they exist,” he said.
Secretary Meink also stated intent to field 1,000 new autonomous aircraft by 2032 along with tens of thousands of low-cost long-range munitions, including 100 of the newly announced Modular Multi-Mission Aircraft by 2029 with another 400 to follow by 2032. Meink says he wants 500 Collaborative Combat Aircraft by 2032.
During his keynote, Meink said the service needs to field tens of thousands of the missiles by 2030.
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