The Air Force notched key successes in 2024, but also saw setbacks for some of the service’s biggest priorities.
By Michael MarrowAdvances in radar are key to countering the modern drone warfare and missile threat
Drones, high-speed cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles attacking together from 360° creates complexity only certain radars can handle.
“If I had to categorize it, modernization costs are something that we still need,” Lt. Gen. David Harris told Breaking Defense. “And there’s even some readiness pieces in here that allow me to have the right supply and support. All of that still needs to come together.”
By Michael Marrow
The conservative Heritage Foundation presented the new report as a potential draft Nuclear Posture Review for the 2025 presidential administration.
By Valerie Insinna
The Air Force is “tak[ing] a few months right now to figure out whether we’ve got the right design and make sure we’re on the right course,” said Secretary Frank Kendall, while other NGAD elements move forward.
By Michael Marrow
“I think there are elements of the ground infrastructure where there may be opportunities for competition that we can add to the acquisition strategy for Sentinel,” said Andrew Hunter, the Air Force’s top acquisition official.
By Valerie Insinna Lt. Gen. Andrew Gebara, Air Force head of nuclear deterrence, stressed that work to develop the Sentinel missile itself by prime contractor Northrop Grumman has been proceeding fairly well.
By Theresa Hitchens
The Air Force revealed today that it has embarked on a restructuring of the troubled but critical long-range missile program, which is now expected to cost 81 percent more than initially estimated.
By Michael Marrow
Capability exists to simulate the future of kill chains at theater scale
A tool to explore what-if scenarios and tradeoffs at the theater-level faster than traditional analysis.
“The deliberations are still underway, there’s been no decision made. We’re looking at a lot of very difficult options that we have to consider,” Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin said today when asked about the sixth-generation fighter.
By Michael Marrow
Dalton will take over from Kristyn Jones, who has been performing the duties of the role since March 2023.
By Michael Marrow
“The question is, how do you manage what you might call the transition from the legacy systems to modern systems?” John Plumb, assistant secretary of Defense for Space Policy, told reporters.
By Valerie Insinna An official with prime contractor Northrop Grumman defended the beleaguered program, and said, “looking for that blame, I think, is hard because it really was just an immense challenge.”
By Michael Marrow
“We’re very, very fixated on being competitive with the pacing challenge [of China],” said Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall. “I think the budget that we’ve submitted moves us forward — not quite as fast as we would like to, but it moves us forward in the right direction while maintaining current capabilities that are essential to the nation.”
By Michael Marrow Chief Executive Officer Kathy Warden said that despite cost growth for the company’s Sentinel ICBM program, the company’s “near-term assumptions” of its sales and profitability are not “materially impacted.”
By Michael Marrow Air Force Lt. Gen. Rick Moore also spoke favorably of investing in “surge” capacity for things like munitions production, though he said the idea may not be popular outside the Air Force.
By Michael Marrow
