Troubled electronics upgrade vital for F-35 in future fights: Mitchell Institute

Troubled electronics upgrade vital for F-35 in future fights: Mitchell Institute
Troubled electronics upgrade vital for F-35 in future fights: Mitchell Institute

While billions over budget and years behind schedule, “Block 4 is going to be fundamentally, radically better,” especially in electronic warfare, argued AFA’s Doug Birkey. “In many ways, it’s an entirely new jet.”

Nuclear Modernization Casts Budget Shadow Over Air Force Plans

Nuclear Modernization Casts Budget Shadow Over Air Force Plans
Nuclear Modernization Casts Budget Shadow Over Air Force Plans

“There’s no free money, right, so it has to come from somewhere,” said Lt. Gen. Clinton Hinote, deputy chief of staff for strategy, integration and requirements.

On Its Birthday, The Air Force Needs To Fight For What It Deserves

On Its Birthday, The Air Force Needs To Fight For What It Deserves
On Its Birthday, The Air Force Needs To Fight For What It Deserves

On Sept. 17th, the Air Force celebrated its birthday with pomp, circumstance and cake. Behind the celebration, however, there are dangerous trends seen within the service, including a number of key platforms that are aging out and major expenses about to hit. David Deptula, the dean of the Mitchell Institute, says the service needs to…

F-15EX To Fly In Indo-PACOM’s Northern Edge

F-15EX To Fly In Indo-PACOM’s Northern Edge
F-15EX To Fly In Indo-PACOM’s Northern Edge

During the exercise, the F-15EX will test the Eagle Passive Active Warning Survivability System (EPAWSS) EW suite, Lt. Gen. David Krumm says.

Long Range Strike Hot Potato Now In OSD Hands

Long Range Strike Hot Potato Now In OSD Hands
Long Range Strike Hot Potato Now In OSD Hands

“It’s ultimately a political decision, and … this demands a strong and fully staffed OSD,” said Mackenzie Eaglen, of the American Enterprise Institute. “That doesn’t seem likely until much later this year.”

Trilateral Cope North Exercise To Test ‘Agile’ Air Ops On Austere Airfields

Trilateral Cope North Exercise To Test ‘Agile’ Air Ops On Austere Airfields
Trilateral Cope North Exercise To Test ‘Agile’ Air Ops On Austere Airfields

The Agile Combat Employment (ACE) concept uses a ‘hub and spoke’ network of permanent, well-established ‘hubs’ and more remote, austere ‘spokes’,” says Air Force Brig. Gen. Jeremy Sloane, commander of the 36th Air Wing in Guam.

VCSAF Wilson Presses Service’s Long-Range Strike Role

VCSAF Wilson Presses Service’s Long-Range Strike Role
VCSAF Wilson Presses Service’s Long-Range Strike Role

“All of the services are pursuing new long-range strike capabilities today, kind of like little kids chasing a soccer ball, and someone needs to ask which investments will maximize our nation’s long-range strike warfighting potential,” said Mitchell Institute’s Mark Gunzinger.

Budget Battles: IC Costs Mean Air Force Gets Short Straw, Say Advocates

Budget Battles: IC Costs Mean Air Force Gets Short Straw, Say Advocates
Budget Battles: IC Costs Mean Air Force Gets Short Straw, Say Advocates

While service in-fighting for budget share is a perennial fact of political life, this year’s version resembles the fictional, to-the-death “Hunger Games,” as all the services struggle with an essentially flat 2021 DoD top line and a mandate to shift gears away from fighting against low-level insurgencies toward global competition with Russia and China.

B-21 First Flight In 2021 Not Likely

B-21 First Flight In 2021 Not Likely
B-21 First Flight In 2021 Not Likely

Meanwhile, the X-37B robotic space plane has hit another record on its fifth mission, now having spent 777 days on orbit, says AFRCO Director Randall Walden.

Mitchell Weighs In: More F-35s or New, Old F-15s?

Mitchell Weighs In: More F-35s or New, Old F-15s?
Mitchell Weighs In: More F-35s or New, Old F-15s?

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.

No Light Attack Planes Any Time Soon: Air Force Undersecretary

No Light Attack Planes Any Time Soon: Air Force Undersecretary
No Light Attack Planes Any Time Soon: Air Force Undersecretary

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…

CSIS Expert Calls Out USAF: 386 Squadrons & $13B Space Force Are Guesswork

CSIS Expert Calls Out USAF: 386 Squadrons & $13B Space Force Are Guesswork
CSIS Expert Calls Out USAF: 386 Squadrons & $13B Space Force Are Guesswork

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 –…

Amazon’s Bezos To Air Force: Don’t Overthink It (But….)

Amazon’s Bezos To Air Force: Don’t Overthink It (But….)
Amazon’s Bezos To Air Force: Don’t Overthink It (But….)

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.

‘A Computer That Happens To Fly’: USAF, RAF Chiefs On Multi-Domain Future

‘A Computer That Happens To Fly’: USAF, RAF Chiefs On Multi-Domain Future
‘A Computer That Happens To Fly’: USAF, RAF Chiefs On Multi-Domain Future

“I grew up flying fighters,” says Gen. David Goldfein, the Air Force Chief of Staff, “and I will tell you, when I see the F-35, I don’t see a fighter. I see a computer that happens to fly.”