Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall testifies before the Senate Appropriations Committee on the fiscal year 2025 budget requests for the Department of the Air Force and Space Force, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C., April 9, 2024. Kendall was joined by the Chief of Staff of the Air Force and Chief of Space Operations during the hearing. (U.S. Air Force photo by Andy Morataya)
The new Quick Start rapid acquisition authority allows the Air Force and other services to begin development on new programs without a congressionally approved budget.
Sgt. 1st Class Jeffrey Englehardt, the noncommissioned officer-in-charge of the operations section for the 142nd Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, which is deployed to support 1st Theater Sustainment Command, gauges wind speed near the Camp Buehring, Kuwait, drop zone for the April 22, 2021 air drop of four bundles using the Joint Precision Air Delivery System, JPADS. Englehardt said JPADS uses the Modular Autonomous Guidance Unit, or MAGU, to manipulate the the parafoil’s rigging to steer it using GPS to reach its programmed coordinates. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Neil W. McCabe)
The contract announced Tuesday supports the first part of a multiyear effort to “field-deploy and validate” miniaturized systems on military platforms, according to the company.
