Although 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 HitchensThe Air Force’s Advanced Battle Management System is growing from an alternative to JSTARS to a multi-domain mega-network to connect all four services in future wars. Is this a revolution or overreach?
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.The current status of the Air Force fleet is “like a power-stall in an airplane,” Todd Harrison of CSIS says, despite a budget at “full throttle.”
By Theresa HitchensHow are Air Force pilots training for a war with Russia or China?
By James KitfieldThursday’s overwhelming Senate vote to pass the bill clears a major hurdle in getting the budget passed on time. But Not only do the House and Senate have little time to knock out final appropriations language and vote on it, but President Trump has signaled he wouldn’t be opposed to a government shutdown this fall, which would bring everything to a grinding halt.
By Paul McLearyThe House Armed Services Committee rejected the Air Force’s strategy to replace the E-8 JSTARS and questioned its plan for the EC-130H Compass Call, even as it accelerated Navy shipbuilding.
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.In a hearing this morning, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Jack Reed, said he’s skeptical about the current plan to retire the JSTARS radar surveillance plane because the Air Force has been inconsistent, not just about JSTARS, but a host of other programs.
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.Air Force Chief of Staff David Goldfein leads perhaps the most ground-down service in the Pentagon. The service grapples with how to modernize its planes, grant its crews some reprieve from the stresses of flying or maintaining and supporting planes and satellites and still keep the United States the one true global power. Read what Goldfein says he’s doing to keep the Air Force in fighting trim.
By Colin ClarkAFA ORLANDO: The Air Force, which relies on large vulnerable targets known as JSTARS, AWACS, Rivet Joint and other aircraft, knows it may need to shift its reliance on big, largely indefensible planes to fused networks of sensors as they are doing with JSTARS. That was the word from Gen. Mike Holmes here today when…
By Colin ClarkThe 21st century is defined by connectivity, from our iPhones to the networks that power our economy. The US military is not immune to this. Either it seizes opportunities presented by the information age, or risks precipitating problems if it retreats into anachronistic paradigms. Well into the late 20th century, combat power was largely measured…
By Doug BirkeyWASHINGTON: Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh made clear today that, while his service will make its arguments for modernization programs such as the JSTARS replacement, F-35 and Long Range Strike Bomber, the Defense Secretary and the combatant commanders will make the final decisions. The military’s latest and highest profile program, the Long Range Strike…
By Colin ClarkAs a member of the House Armed Services Committee and a proponent of the JSTARS radar plane since arriving in Congress, I am alarmed by the undercurrent of discussion within Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) considering delaying the Next Generation JSTARS acquisition program. This is in stark contrast to the support for JSTARS…
By Rep. Austin Scott
Air Force senior leaders must decide whether to build a new airborne ground radar surveillance capability. The Joint Surveillance and Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS) is a system boasting sophisticated radar, electronic, and communication suites installed in a modified Boeing 707. Over the last decade, this command and control aircraft, empowered by its Ground Moving…
By Adam Lowther