Defense & Aerospace Report Defense & Aerospace Air Power Podcast [Feb 26, 26] Season 4 E7 Wild, Wild West
Feb 26, 2026
Dave Alexander, president of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems and unmanned aircraft leader, talks programs like CCA, MQ-9 Bravo, production capacity and tooling. He outlines Dark Merlin flight progress and GA’s Long Shot X-68A demonstrator. He also discusses trainer teaming, scaling production to 12–18 aircraft/month, export and acquisition hurdles, and growing international MQ-9 demand.
AI Snips
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Transcript
Episode notes
Air Force Leadership United On Readiness Modernization
- Department of the Air Force leadership presented unified priorities of readiness, modernization, and people as actionable guidance for recovery.
- Dave Deptula stressed these respond to decades of underfunding and require new resources, not just efficiency tricks.
CCA Race Is Now About Software Brains
- The CCA competition is shifting from hardware to autonomy software as the decisive element.
- Tobias Naegele highlighted Brig. Gen. Epperson's point that the fight is over the brains running CCAs, effectively 'buying a smart pilot.'
Commercial Imagery Reveals China's Accelerating Build
- Open-source commercial imagery exposes China’s rapid force expansion and enables granular analysis.
- Mitchell Institute’s interactive map shows bases, carriers, and missile sites, warning China may have the largest combat air force in 2–3 years.