STRATCOM’s Hyten On B-21, Columbia Class, NC3

STRATCOM’s Hyten On B-21, Columbia Class, NC3
STRATCOM’s Hyten On B-21, Columbia Class, NC3

Air Force Gen. John Hyten has always wanted to spend time at the house he and his wife bought years ago in Colorado Springs — but he’s too busy with, among other things, alerts of missile launches around the globe, just in case one is US-bound. You’d think the former head of Space Command, now…

F-35 Ready For Missile Defense By 2025: MDA Chief

F-35 Ready For Missile Defense By 2025: MDA Chief
F-35 Ready For Missile Defense By 2025: MDA Chief

“I’d say six to seven years to essentially work out the Concept of Operations (and) develop the capabilities,” Lt. Gen. Samuel Greaves told the Senate.

Navy’s New High Altitude Drones Ready for Pacific

Navy’s New High Altitude Drones Ready for Pacific
Navy’s New High Altitude Drones Ready for Pacific

The deployment comes as Beijing and Washington race to keep tabs on one another in the South China Sea.

Artillery, Drones, Missiles Will Help FVL Penetrate Air Defenses: FVL CFT

Artillery, Drones, Missiles Will Help FVL Penetrate Air Defenses: FVL CFT
Artillery, Drones, Missiles Will Help FVL Penetrate Air Defenses: FVL CFT

All this technology serves a new concept of operations for defeating dense advanced air defenses of the kind Russia and China are both building for themselves and selling abroad.

Space-Based Sensors Needed For Missile Defense Vs. Hypersonics: MDA

Space-Based Sensors Needed For Missile Defense Vs. Hypersonics: MDA
Space-Based Sensors Needed For Missile Defense Vs. Hypersonics: MDA

WASHINGTON: The Missile Defense Agency needs sensors in orbit to track hypersonic threats, the MDA director said this week. Such satellites would use mature technology and could perform other surveillance missions to help justify their cost, Lt. Gen. Samuel Greaves told the McAleese/Credit Suisse conference Tuesday. Last week, as we reported, the chief of Strategic…

Batteries, Bullets, & Drones: Commandant’s Wishlist For Infantry Task Force

Batteries, Bullets, & Drones: Commandant’s Wishlist For Infantry Task Force
Batteries, Bullets, & Drones: Commandant’s Wishlist For Infantry Task Force

What’s the one technology the Marine Corps Commandant wants more than any other for his riflemen? It wasn’t an amphibious vehicle, more JLTVs, a new rifle or friggin’ lasers. It is “a smart way to recharge batteries,” Gen. Robert Neller told reporters.

Israeli Ground Units Building Drone Air Force

Israeli Ground Units Building Drone Air Force
Israeli Ground Units Building Drone Air Force

A visit to Israel’s increasingly tense border with Syria makes clear that the ground units of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) are building their own “air force.” The clear benefits of tactical drones have driven the ground forces to deploy more and more aircraft and this has reached the status of a real revolution.

STRATCOM Wants Space-Based Midcourse Tracking Vs. Missiles: Hyten

STRATCOM Wants Space-Based Midcourse Tracking Vs. Missiles: Hyten
STRATCOM Wants Space-Based Midcourse Tracking Vs. Missiles: Hyten

ASSOCIATION OF THE US ARMY: After 30 years of trying, the head of Strategic Command believes the time and technology are finally ripe for satellites to track both ballistic missiles and emerging threats such as hypersonics. “I’ll talk about it with Congress over the next couple of weeks,” Gen. John Hyten told reporters here at…

SecAF: Don’t Expect Large Budget Increases After 2019; $2.4B Set For Light Attack

SecAF: Don’t Expect Large Budget Increases After 2019; $2.4B Set For Light Attack
SecAF: Don’t Expect Large Budget Increases After 2019; $2.4B Set For Light Attack

The Air Force placed a $2.4 billion placeholder in the 2019 budget to buy Light Attack Aircraft over the next five years, Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson told reporters this morning.

Zuma: A New Twist On Space Radar?

Zuma: A New Twist On Space Radar?
Zuma: A New Twist On Space Radar?

WASHINGTON: Before we go any further, this story is based on direct observations of what was believed to be the so-called Zuma satellite, as well as a lot of spookily sourced information, most of it from a single source who shall not be identified. First, nobody who doesn’t have extremely high clearance really knows if…

Air Force ISR ‘Flight Plan,’ Industry Day Coming: Stealth, Space, Cyber, & AI

Air Force ISR ‘Flight Plan,’ Industry Day Coming: Stealth, Space, Cyber, & AI
Air Force ISR ‘Flight Plan,’ Industry Day Coming: Stealth, Space, Cyber, & AI

CAPITOL HILL: The Air Force is finalizing a high-tech “flight plan” for Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance investments, the deputy chief of staff for ISR said here. The service can’t keep buying more and more drones to collect more and more data and then hiring more and more human analysts to plow through it, Lt. Gen.…

Bad Idea: Armed Drones in West Africa

Bad Idea: Armed Drones in West Africa
Bad Idea: Armed Drones in West Africa

We’re partnering with the Center for Strategic and International Studies to bring you their fab Bad Ideas series through the Christmas holiday season. We don’t usually pay much attention to this sort of operational policy decision — where to operate and with what — but each new location for drone operations can mean a larger…

JSTARS Just A Target In A2AD; No Need To Replace

JSTARS Just A Target In A2AD; No Need To Replace
JSTARS Just A Target In A2AD; No Need To Replace

AFA HQ: We finally learned why the Air Force has been backing away from a new JSTARS: it probably wouldn’t be much use in a real shooting war. That’s the verdict, stated in less unforgiving terms by the head of Air Combat Command, Gen. Mike Holmes, here in a speech. “The question is, how will…

Air Force Mulls Merging Cyber, ISR Troops

Air Force Mulls Merging Cyber, ISR Troops
Air Force Mulls Merging Cyber, ISR Troops

AFA: The senior leadership of the Air Force will decide at the late October Corona meeting at the Air Force Academy whether to take the cyber force from Air Force Space Command and merge it with Air Combat Command‘s ISR force. Why, you ask, would they combine the 24th Air Force with the 25th Air…