US military, Silicon Valley team up to advance air combat

Silicon Valley and the U.S. military are teaming up to develop better airwar fighting tools.

“Now that coalition forces have defeated ISIS on the ground in places like Iraq and Syria, our military assets are shifting towards fighting the Taliban, which has taken control of large areas in Afghanistan now,” Fox News contributor Lea Gabrielle told FOX Business’ Maria Bartiromo on “Mornings with Maria.”

The initiative aims to increase the combat capabilities of the U.S. Air Force.

“So the air wars, essentially, if you understand it as a symphony in the sky, a fighter, an attack aircraft, tankers drones and other support craft. But much of the coordination between the airborne assets and the operation center where the decisions are being made, until recently that was antiquated,” Gabrielle said.

Experts from companies including Salisbury Pivotal Software are working with the Air Force to help them work more efficiently.

“We paired with them, and we taught them this new way of building software. And we built the software for applications side by side with them,” Pivotal Software senior director Keith Salisbury told Gabrielle.

According to the U.S. Central Command, the initiative will cut the manpower and time for planning in half and will save nearly $1 million in fuel per week.