"The reality is there is not enough space to undertake a new start business-class ISR [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] platform," USAF chief of staff Gen Norton Schwartz told the US Senate Armed Services Committee on 20 March.
"We simply don't have the resources."
While the air force analysis calls for a mix of unmanned Northrop Grumman Block 40 RQ-4B Global Hawks and business jet-based ISR aircraft, Schwartz says the service will have to soldier on without a new manned platform.
Instead, he says, the current Northrop E-8 Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS) will have to do.