Gen. (ret) Jeff “Cobra” Harrigian, recently retired commander of US Air Forces Europe and Africa, describes the European battlespace and what’s on the minds of the air chiefs as Ukraine defends itself.
By Breaking DefenseLast time around the US announced a big change without consulting allies. This time a top Air Force official doesn’t foresee “huge movement,” but promised a heads up.
By Aaron MehtaThe sixth ABMS onramp “was going to be in partnership with Australia, and allies and partners, in the Pacific Rim,” Air Force Chief Architect Preston Dunlap said, but “just due to the budget constraints, we had to pull the plug on that.”
By Theresa Hitchens“You know, we say the next fight is going to be joint — no, it’s going to be coalition,” said Maj. Kevin Peel, of the Air Force Warfighting Integrating Capability (AFWIC).
By Theresa HitchensThe Air Force experiment piggybacked on the annual Sea Breeze wargames, with ships, aircraft, and special operators from at least eight nations coming together to deter Russia.
By Theresa HitchensGen. Jeffrey Harrigian, head of Air Forces Europe, said allies must be included in JADC2 development: “You can’t just bring them in in execution and go: ‘Hey we built the plan, so, sorry, just do what we told you.”
By Theresa HitchensThe threat of long-range missile launchers in the Russian enclave is driving the Air Force to develop new tactics for multi-domain attack and dispersed defense.
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.AFA: The Defense Innovation Unit experimental (DIUx) is working with airmen and DOD civilian software coders to rapidly change the planning and conduct of air operations, Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Harrigian, commander of Air Forces Central Command, told reporters here Tuesday. Over the past few months, Harrigian said, DIUx has helped develop new software used by the Combined…
By Richard WhittleCAPITOL HILL: While Congress and the media focus on immediate issues with the F-35’s ejection seat, the program has begun working on a long-range modernization plan to upgrade the Joint Strike Fighter’s combat power. This modernization package, with the so-called Block 4 software upgrade at its core, is essential to the aircraft reaching its “full warfighting capability,” Maj. Gen.…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.AFA CONFERENCE: The biggest pole in the tent for the F-35A is ALIS, the autonomous parts management and maintenance system key to managing the Joint Strike Fighter program’s in the long term. That’s the word from Maj. Gen. Jeffrey L. Harrigian, director of the Air Force’s F-35 integration office. Harrigian, who oversees all F-35 issues…
By Colin ClarkWASHINGTON: Do dogfights matter in the age of tactical stealth? If an F-16 can outmaneuver an F-35 in a dogfight, does it matter? Does it matter if the earliest generation F-35 can’t outmaneuver an advanced model of the F-16 in an early test? So many questions. We’ll try to answer them because the folks at…
By Colin ClarkPENTAGON: The F-35‘s highly sensitive sensors suffer a basic problem right now: They often aren’t sure what they are detecting. That results in a high rate of false alarms. The key to fixing this lies in building highly complex data files — what we can colloquially call the threat library — and integrating them with the Joint Strike…
By Colin ClarkPENTAGON: In a clear sign of the growing importance of the F-35 to the Air Force as the aircraft nears IOC, the service is boosting the profile and office of the person working with the Joint Strike Fighter’s Joint Program Office from a colonel to a two-star general. The service announced today that Maj. Gen. Jeffrey…
By Colin Clark