The list is an impressive marker of the breadth of topics we cover as we chronicle the strategy, policy and politics that decide the weapons America and its allies buy, and how we use them.
By Colin Clark“It’s ridiculous, to be quite candid. It is encroachment on roles and missions,” says Mitchell Institute’s Dave Deptula about Army plans for super long-range weapons that rival the capabilities of Air Force combat aircraft.
By Theresa Hitchens“The Senate is saddling the service with unsupportable funding requirements,” Richard Aboulafia of the Teal Group says.
By Theresa Hitchens“There are a lot of requirements out there and we could use everything we had and a little bit more,” says ACC head Gen. Mike Holmes, but “we need to put some priority on modernization.”
By Theresa HitchensThe Air Force leaders who sought to retire the A-10 in 2014 did not want to cut the aircraft, but they had no other choice due to the Budget Control Act of 2011. While that era has passed, the same dynamics are still at play— a service that is under-resourced, overtasked, compelled to retire aircraft to free up resources to modernize the remaining inventory of mostly geriatric aircraft.
By David DeptulaAfter three years of budget growth for the Pentagon, the armed services are going to unveil some drastic changes for the 2021 budget.
By Paul McLearyAlthough retiring the B-2 fleet could save the Air Force nearly $3 billion, CSIS cautions that doing so “would leave the nation without a long-range penetrating strike aircraft and would weaken the airborne component of the nuclear triad.”
By Theresa Hitchens“We’ve been kicking around this idea that there needs to be a milestone past D; a milestone E where the program is proving elderly and we’re having to do Herculean tasks to keep airplanes flying that should have been retired long ago,” says Air Force acquisition czar Will Roper.
By Theresa HitchensF-35 Program Executive Officer Vice Adm. Mat Winter today told the HASC tactical air and land subcommittee that Lockheed was guilty of just that, adding that this had helped lead to a shortage of an average of 600 parts each month, causing production line slowdowns and cost increases.
By Colin ClarkFifth 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.
By David Deptula and Doug BirkeyWASHINGTON: While the Air Force accepted delivery of the first KC-46 today, Boeing could face a total of $4.5 billion in cost overruns and withheld payments on the initial $4.9 billion contract for 52 KC-46 airborne tankers, depending on what happens as the company tries to fix the plane’s Remote Vision System. How does that…
By Colin Clark
Anyone who’s been around ground combat knows F-35s, F-22s and legacy fast jets are far too fast and lack the close in maneuverability to be able detect camouflaged threats to our troops or to separate friend from foe in a highly fluid firefight.
By Brian Boeding