How To ‘Land’ A Drone On A Manned Airplane: DARPA’s ‘Gremlins’

How To ‘Land’ A Drone On A Manned Airplane: DARPA’s ‘Gremlins’
How To ‘Land’ A Drone On A Manned Airplane: DARPA’s ‘Gremlins’

NATIONAL HARBOR: This time, General Atomics’ secret weapon isn’t the drone. It’s the mechanical arm that catches it in mid-flight — and then hauls it into the back of a C-130 cargo plane, also in mid-flight. General Atomics, which builds the iconic Predator, has rolled out its offering for DARPA’s Gremlins program, blandly called the…

Air Force Leading Way To 3rd Offset: Bob Work

Air Force Leading Way To 3rd Offset: Bob Work
Air Force Leading Way To 3rd Offset: Bob Work

NATIONAL HARBOR: The Pentagon’s biggest advocate of artificial intelligence just spoke to the Air Force Association for over an hour — and he didn’t mention drones. When Deputy Secretary of Defense Bob Work talks about autonomy, he’s much less interested in killer robots than in command and control. The Air Force led the way on…

CJCS Dunford Calls For Strategic Shifts; ‘At Peace Or At War Is Insufficient’

CJCS Dunford Calls For Strategic Shifts; ‘At Peace Or At War Is Insufficient’
CJCS Dunford Calls For Strategic Shifts; ‘At Peace Or At War Is Insufficient’

NATIONAL HARBOR: The increasingly “adversarial” relationships with Russia and China are forcing the Pentagon to classify its previously public National Military Strategy, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff says. Classification will allow bolder and more specific discussions of how to manage those relationships and our responses to them, Gen. Joe Dunford told the annual…

Artificial Intelligence For Air Force: Cyber & Electronic Warfare

Artificial Intelligence For Air Force: Cyber & Electronic Warfare
Artificial Intelligence For Air Force: Cyber & Electronic Warfare

AFA: The Air Force wants artificial intelligence to track and react to cyber and electronic threats, to update countermeasures against enemy hackers, radars, and missiles faster than human minds can manage. But first you have to fix the basics. Today, the Department Of Defense Information Network (DODIN) is really not a single network, but a…

Airmen First, Weapons Second: SecAF James

Airmen First, Weapons Second: SecAF James
Airmen First, Weapons Second: SecAF James

 AFA: For the foreseeable future, Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James told me today, when push comes to shove, personnel funding should win and modernization must wait. “If you’re asking me if I have to choose between the two, then I vote for people,” she said. “I’m going to protect people.” Of course, the Air…

B-21 Bomber Estimate By CAPE: $511M A Copy

CORRECTED: Attribution of Air Force Buying New Advanced Fighter NATIONAL HARBOR: The Air Force’s new bomber, the B-21 Raider, should come in almost $40 million below the official $550 million a copy official estimate, says Randall Walden, director of the Air Force’s Rapid Capabilities Office. So, $511 million is the new $550 million. After his…

Red Atlantic: Russia Could Choke Air, Sea Lanes To Europe

Red Atlantic: Russia Could Choke Air, Sea Lanes To Europe
Red Atlantic: Russia Could Choke Air, Sea Lanes To Europe

NATIONAL HARBOR: Russia could hinder US reinforcements headed to Europe in the event of a major war, warned the recently retired Supreme Allied Commander, Gen. Philip Breedlove. It’s well known Russian radars, missiles, and strike planes — “Anti-Access/Area Denial” systems — threaten ships and aircraft across wide swathes of the Black Sea, Eastern Europe, and…