The Chief of Staff of the Air Force has approved the service’s new doctrine document for irregular warfare, the one it began working in early spring to establish the Air Force view of counterinsurgency warfare, having been relegated largely to a footnote in the Army-Marine Corp version. In a forward to AFDD 2-3, Gen. Michael Moseley writes: “Employed properly, airpower (to include air, space, and cyberspace capabilities) produces asymmetric advantages that can be effectively leveraged by joint force commanders in virtually every aspect of irregular warfare.” He adds that the document draws “heavily” on operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, but it is “broad, enduring, and forward-looking, rather than focusing on any particular operation, current or past.” The 103-page document has 11 “foundational” statements, one of which notes that the “valuable and unique” capabilities that USAF provides are “in many cases … flexible and persistent options” that offer “a less intrusive force that can respond quickly and improve commanders’ overall situation awareness.”
There is a new entrant in the highly competitive field of collaborative combat aircraft—semi-autonomous drones meant to fly alongside manned combat aircraft. Northrop Grumman unveiled its new Project Talon aircraft to a small group of reporters at the facilities of its subsidiary Scaled Composites.
