If knowledgeable defense analyst Loren Thompson is right, the Air Force’s effort to produce a single widebody aircraft to replace its trio of older intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance assets is a dead duck. The Quadrennial Defense Review relegated the E-10 multimission aircraft program to a single test aircraft. Now, the Lexington Institute’s Thompson writes, “Insiders say even that will disappear in the 2008 budget.” Earlier this year, Lt. Gen. Stephen Wood, USAF point man for strategic plans and programs, described the situation as a “strategic pause.” According to Thompson, USAF’s entire ISR program is in dire straits. (Read our February article outlining Air Force plans for ISR.)
Pentagon Deploys F-22s as Trump Weighs Strikes on Iran
June 18, 2025
U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptors landed at RAF Lakenheath in England June 18 as President Donald Trump weighs whether to join Israel's attacks on Iran.