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.”
"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.
Six companies have already signed up for a new flight-test program to mature their autonomy software.
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 […]
During the exercise, the F-15EX will test the Eagle Passive Active Warning Survivability System (EPAWSS) EW suite, Lt. Gen. David Krumm says.
"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."
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.
As aircraft shrink, threats expand, and technology accelerates, aircraft engines must iterate along with the threats.
"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.
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.
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.
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.
Modeling and simulation get an AI upgrade for more realistic training and improved autonomous platforms.
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 […]
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 – […]
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.
“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."