Killer Angel On Your Shoulder: Army’s Future Armed Reconnaissance Aircraft

Killer Angel On Your Shoulder: Army’s Future Armed Reconnaissance Aircraft
Killer Angel On Your Shoulder: Army’s Future Armed Reconnaissance Aircraft

Manned air and ground forces would work together and protect each other along the front line, while relatively expendable drones and missiles go deep into enemy airspace.

SASC Seeks Sweeping ‘Roles & Missions’ Report: Wither The Marines?

SASC Seeks Sweeping ‘Roles & Missions’ Report: Wither The Marines?
SASC Seeks Sweeping ‘Roles & Missions’ Report: Wither The Marines?

WASHINGTON: The Senate Armed Services Committee has proposed the most sweeping reevaluation of the military in 30 years, with tough questions for all four armed services but especially the Marine Corps. While its provisions cover topics ranging from swarming robots to “construction and maintenance of public works in Cis-Lunar Space,” its overwhelming focus is reorienting…

Will Israeli Air Force Buy More F-15s Or F-35s; Intel May Tip Balance

Will Israeli Air Force Buy More F-15s Or F-35s; Intel May Tip Balance
Will Israeli Air Force Buy More F-15s Or F-35s; Intel May Tip Balance

TEL AVIV: The Israeli Air Force (IAF) may delay the acquisition of a third Lockheed Martin F-35 squadron in favor of a fast purchase of additional new versions of the F-15. In recent deliberations within the IAF’s high command, the leading direction was clear – -priority for the additional F-15’s while delaying the purchase of…

HASC EW Expert Bacon: US ‘Not Prepared’ For Electronic Warfare Vs. Russia, China

HASC EW Expert Bacon: US ‘Not Prepared’ For Electronic Warfare Vs. Russia, China
HASC EW Expert Bacon: US ‘Not Prepared’ For Electronic Warfare Vs. Russia, China

WASHINGTON: The US military is “not prepared” to conduct radio and radar jamming against high-end adversaries, a veteran electronic warfare officer now in Congress says. We have made major progress jamming terrorist communications in Afghanistan and Iraq, says Rep. Don Bacon, a retired one-star general who recently visited both countries. But even against such low-tech foes,…

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.…

Shutdown Looms, North Korean War Closer, UK PM Mocked

Shutdown Looms, North Korean War Closer, UK PM Mocked
Shutdown Looms, North Korean War Closer, UK PM Mocked

CORRECTED: Changed Stealth To Fifth Generation Fighters In Fifth Paragraph.  WASHINGTON: Can the Christmas holidays come quickly enough? Republicans, hungry for their first major legislative accomplishment since the 2016 elections, are focused above and beyond all else on changes to tax law, leaving a dangerous vacuum into which a shutdown could fall. Last week, the…

No $ For New B-52 Engines Til 2020; Nuke Modernization Moves Ahead: Gen. Rand

No $ For New B-52 Engines Til 2020; Nuke Modernization Moves Ahead: Gen. Rand
No $ For New B-52 Engines Til 2020; Nuke Modernization Moves Ahead: Gen. Rand

CORRECTED: Inserted Photo Of Minuteman III; Removed Photo Of Titan WASHINGTON: Gen. Robin Rand, the Air Force bomber and missile boss, really wants new jet engines for his aging B-52s. The service has invited interested companies to a two-day information session in December and Boeing and Rolls-Royce are already publicly campaigning for the contract. But,…

Air Force Works To Speed New Air Force One FAA Certification

Air Force Works To Speed New Air Force One FAA Certification
Air Force Works To Speed New Air Force One FAA Certification

WASHINGTON: Air Mobility Command, an experienced observer of gaining FAA certification for civilian aircraft rebuilt for military purposes, is using its knowledge to try to lower the costs of the replacement for Air Force One. The head of AMC, Gen. Carlton Everhart, told me this afternoon they hoped to find “efficiencies” in the process of…

Trump Mixes F-35 ‘Savings,’ Hurricane Relief In Puerto Rico

Trump Mixes F-35 ‘Savings,’ Hurricane Relief In Puerto Rico
Trump Mixes F-35 ‘Savings,’ Hurricane Relief In Puerto Rico

WASHINGTON: No other administration would have tried to save money on Lockheed Martin’s F-35, according to President Donald Trump. Now, on its face that may not be so surprising a claim from Trump. But he made it during an appearance at the Luis Muñiz Air National Guard Base in Puerto Rico to show support for the people…

Boost The US Bomber Force: Dollars vs. Operational Needs

Boost The US Bomber Force: Dollars vs. Operational Needs
Boost The US Bomber Force: Dollars vs. Operational Needs

The United States Air Force should consider shifting its balance of its strike forces from fighters to long-range bombers. At the end of the Cold War, the Air Force’s combat aircraft inventory included 411 bombers. Today, it has a total of 158 B-1, B-52, and B-2 bombers, of which only 96 are designated as Primary…

US Needs More Tankers, Transports Since Russia & China Can Shoot Them Down

US Needs More Tankers, Transports Since Russia & China Can Shoot Them Down
US Needs More Tankers, Transports Since Russia & China Can Shoot Them Down

AFA: The Air Force needs more tankers and transports because a sophisticated enemy like Russia or China can shoot them down, the chief of Air Mobility Command said here. The current fleet size is based on war plans that only considered how much fuel, supplies, equipment, and troops the air fleet needed to move from…

Stealth Necessary But Not Sufficient: Add EW, Intel, Tactics

Stealth Necessary But Not Sufficient: Add EW, Intel, Tactics
Stealth Necessary But Not Sufficient: Add EW, Intel, Tactics

CAPITOL HILL: Stealth was sold as something close to magic when it first appeared. And, as usually happens when extraordinary claims are made, the blowback was intense. Skeptics pointed to its vulnerability to large-scale, land-based radars, to the fact it wasn’t invisible to the naked eye, to the costs and difficulties of maintaining the expensive…

Electronic Warfare ‘Growing’; Joint Airborne EW Study Underway

Electronic Warfare ‘Growing’; Joint Airborne EW Study Underway
Electronic Warfare ‘Growing’; Joint Airborne EW Study Underway

ARLINGTON: After two decades of neglect, electronic warfare is — slowly — on the mend, the Pentagon’s Deputy Director for EW said yesterday. That includes a growing budget, a new (classified) strategy from the Office of the Secretary of Defense, increased interest from the leaders of all four armed services, and, most immediately, an ongoing…

New Missile Defense Radar Passes Key Stage: Lockheed LRDR

New Missile Defense Radar Passes Key Stage: Lockheed LRDR
New Missile Defense Radar Passes Key Stage: Lockheed LRDR

As anxiety rises over North Korean rocket tests, the Missile Defense Agency needs better radar to tell threats apart. Which of those distant blips is an InterContinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) warhead capable of hitting the US? Which is a burnt-out rocket boaster coasting harmlessly through space? Which is a decoy warhead designed to make MDA…