AFA 2019

‘Sizable Dollars’ For ABMS Likely in 2021 Request: Roper

Roper says he hopes Congress "will smile on the Air Force for breaking out of 'Platform Land' and actually putting money towards digital transformation."

SDA’s $11B Five-Year Budget Draft Not Likely To Fly

"This is not going to be helpful over on the Hill," one former congressional staffer said of SDA's $11 billion, five-year draft budget. "In fact, it could put the final nails in SDA's coffin."

EXCLUSIVE Revolutionary SATCOM Vision Hits Raymond’s Desk: AFSPC

The vision itself isn't the only thing that is needed, industry sources say. A concept of operations is required for how the Air Force will manage different user needs and interact with different industry providers. "The vision is out, but there is no concept of operations," said one source.

AFRL Cyber Center To Train How To Hack Sensors (Think IoT)

The Air Force sees the New Mexico training environment as eventually becoming a cyber training range for the entire Defense Department.

Air Force Boosts Funding Cap for Promising Startups

The goal of the matching fund is to support tech startup firms to bridge the 'valley of death' and rapidly scale up capability.

Roper Unveils PEO For Next Gen Digital Planes; Critics Grumble

The new Advanced Aircraft PEO will "transform the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program into the Air Force’s Digital Century Series initiative."

TRANSCOM Chief: No More KC-135s Now Planned

Gen. Stephen Lyons, the Army general heading up TRANSCOM, says there is no ongoing work for a space plane to carry supplies.

AFRL Issues New Tech Challenge, Uses Bespoke Contracts

AFRL's new Air Force Explore challenge intends to make four to seven awards, each in the $1 million to $2 million range.

AF Education & Training Shifts To ‘Space Warfighting Ethos’: Gen. Webb

"Gen. Raymond has asked me, in particular, to make sure that we are incorporating all aspects of space warfighting ... into our curriculum."

SDA Will Control Many Sat Buys, But NOT NROs: Tournear

"We are the ones that say this is what needs to be done" to build a next-gen space architecture, says SDA Acting Director Derek Tournear. Except when they don't.

Air Force Pushes 3D Printing To Boost Readiness

Air Force LCMC is working to ensure that far-flung depots eventually can print their own parts -- with a recent first being Travis AFB's using their brand, spanking new laser printer to print those toilet seat covers built of a new-fangled polymer from it's own brand new printer. 

AFRL Moving New Capabilities to Warfighters Fast: Cooley

AFA 2019: Maj. Gen. William Cooley explains to Breaking D how Air Force Research Lab is shaping its efforts to move cutting-edge tech to warfighters in the field. AI, autonomy and networking capabilities to link sensors and shooters top the priorities list for the lab’s yet to be established priority “Vanguard” programs, Cooley told Theresa […]

60 Days To Build Cloud; Underpins AI Push: Roper

AFA 2019: Multi Domain Operations are all about the “connective tissue,” as the Air Force rushes to test and field its building blocks, says Air Force acquisition czar Will Roper. Even after a full day of interviews and meetings, Roper’s enthusiasm for transforming the Air Force into a “software company” remains undimmed, as you can […]

Multi Domain Operations: Insights From Lockheed Martin

Lockheed Martin's Kim Ponders, who's done much to help me understand the concepts and some of the technology behind Multi-Domain Command and Control (MDC2), explains what the company is doing and answers one crucial question: Is Multi Domain just another Pentagon buzzword.