The Latest Stories from the AFA 2018 Conference
Fifth gen or fourth gen? F-35A or F-15X. Stealth, sensors and fusion or lots of missiles? Lockheed or Boeing? See what the Mitchell Institute says.
By David Deptula and Doug Birkey
AFA: The Air Force won’t issue a Request For Information on possible Light Attack aircraft, originally scheduled to come out December, in favor of doing a lot more experiments, Air Force Undersecretary Matt Donovan told reporters this morning. The service has been dithering for over a decade about whether to buy propeller-driven aircraft for affordable close…
By Colin Clark
Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson announced “the Air Force we need”, a significant expansion of the Air Force from 312 operational squadrons to 386. One thing is clear. It will be really expensive. The annual additional cost would be about $37 billion at a time when budget projections show no increase, and up to 94,000 additional personnel, active and reserve.
By Mark Cancian
AFA: The Air Force is developing smart bombs that detonate differently depending on the target. These “Dialable Effects Munitions” could turn up the blast to devastate an enemy camp or turn it down to kill a single terrorist without hurting nearby civilians. In the extreme case, said Col. Garry Haase, the director of munitions at…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
CENTER FOR STRATEGIC & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: The Air Force threw out two big numbers this week, but one of Washington’s leading budget analysts doesn’t think either of them is credible. One is the service’s unsolicited estimate that President Trump’s plan to create an independent Space Force – largely carved out of the Air Force –…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
What did Amazon founder, Washington Post owner and space entrepreneur Jeff Bezos tell the Air Force Association?
Don’t overthink it.
Don’t sweat the small stuff, but it’s not all small stuff.
On low stakes decisions, you should go fast, experiment, try and fail and try again; but on the big stuff — the irreversible decisions — for God’s sake, take your time.
After an Air Force memo pushing back on some of Deputy Secretary of Defense Partrick Shanahan’s early plans for the Space Force hit the streets this week, Shanahan sought to smooth things over.
By Paul McLeary
The Air Force can be an “angel investor” for some startups, said Will Roper, the service’s top acquisition official.
By Paul McLeary
So reporters kept pressing Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson and Chief of Staff David Goldfein for answers to the reasonable question: How will the Air Force afford 74 more squadrons with all the people, planes, satellites, and infrastructure needed to make them useful?
By Colin Clark
The Air Force is too small for what it is being asked to do. Here’s what it needs to do to grow.
By John Lehman