"Infrastructure today is not hard; it's not survivable — at least what we're talking about here, that is commercial infrastructure," said Robert Spalding, CEO of the firm SEMPRE, which had a research contract with the military.
The B-21 program will not undertake traditional "block upgrades" to beef up future performance, says Air Force Global Strike Command head Gen. Timothy Ray. Instead, it will incrementally add new capabilities as they become available.
As aircraft shrink, threats expand, and technology accelerates, aircraft engines must iterate along with the threats.
"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."
"Certainly, we're in the in the conversation for the HACM as that gets developed," Global Strike Command head Gen. Timothy Ray said.
“It’s really important that we don’t let these issues get swept up in … political transitions between administrations,” warned the head of Air Force Global Strike Command.
Combatant Commanders for European Command and Indo-Pacific Command see bombers with hypersonic capabilities as "incredibly, incredibly valuable," says Gen. Timothy Ray.
Modeling and simulation get an AI upgrade for more realistic training and improved autonomous platforms.
"I know we're not going to be immune from design flaws," Air Force RCO head Randy Walden said of the B-21 program. "We're going to have to work through those, and we're doing some of that today."
JADC2 is foundational to future hypersonic weapons, says Gen. Ray: "If you don't have that, you just miss fast."
"There is no significant game plan here," Ray said about the idea of a 'bomb truck.' "I just think, why not? You can't win if you don't play."
The U.S. has 156 bombers today. But the Air Force is committed to boasting 386 squadrons, up 75 from its total today. "Certainly," Gen. Timothy Ray said, "that means good growth for the bombers."
The U.S. Army’s MAPS Gen II program of record for assured PNT provides an authoritative and reliable source of truth for combat vehicles in a highly contested battlespace.
The Navy has eight four-stars in its ranks -- a number that will stay steady when presumptive CNO Gilday is confirmed and gets his fourth star, and current CNO John Richardson steps down. The Air Force, by contrast has 13 four-star generals.
Finding capable technologists is the key requirement as DoD upgrades NC3, says Gen. Timothy Ray
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?