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As Aviation Week notes, after 9/11 the Air Force belatedly realized that it needed recon capability of all kinds and liberally requested RFPs and demos. Northrop Grumman responded and the Global Hawk was pressed into service. Typically a successful program in the military soon experiences mission creep and the particular service begins piling on all kinds of wish lists for the technology which, BTW, they want yesterday. Usually this can be done but at a cost, as the vendor is essentially delivering custom applications rather than a standardized product and the price goes up. Enter cost overruns. Thus it was with the Global Hawk. There is also the Army.
The Air Force doesn't like to support the grunts mucking about down below. It much prefers to fly sleek jets fast and high overhead. The A-10 Thunderbolt (aka "Warthog") is a classic case in point. Designed after the Vietnam War, it was meant to fulfill the critical task of killing enemy tanks and providing close-air support to ground troops and it performed magnificently in Gulf War I and in Iraq and Afghanistan. Despite this, the Air Force has tried to kill the airplane several times because it is ugly and slow. The Army offered to take over responsibility for close-air support and fly the Hogs, but the thought of the Army having its own air wing was a bridge too far for the boys in blue. Now the same scenario is occurring again with the Global Hawk.
Of course the Obama Administration just wants to get rid of the armed forces pretty much altogether and has neither the knowledge, foresight, or interest to think ahead strategically to U.S. defense needs in the next 10-20 years, so it will not get involved in refereeing this dispute. Hence, its back to the future with our eyes firmly closed and letting our military capability rot away. I'm sure that when China sees this it will do the same.
www.aviationweek.com/Article.aspx?id=/article-xml/AW_02_25_2013_p22-550617.xml
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