Technology Horizons Paper Released: The Air Force on Wednesday issued Technology Horizons, the vision document that charts the service’s science and technology goals and priorities out to 2030. It highlights technologically achievable breakthroughs in that timeframe to increase the effectiveness of the Air Force, and, in the process, the joint US military fighting force. Among the many future concepts that would be possible with these breakthroughs is a reusable prompt theater-range intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance/strike system for engaging high-value, time-critical targets from standoff distances. The 79-foot-long air vehicle features combined-cycle propulsion (rockets and ram/scramjet) capable of Mach 6 flight. The vehicle has a range of 5,000 nautical miles at Mach 6 while carrying a 2,000-pound payload, “permitting alternating flights between Diego Garcia and Guam with runway landings,” states the work. Werner Dahm, Air Force chief scientist, unveiled Technology Horizons to reporters last week. (Technology Horizons full document; caution, very large file.)
Pentagon officials overseeing homeland counter-drone strategy told lawmakers that even with preliminary moves to bolster U.S. base defenses, the military still lacks the capability to comprehensively identify, track, and engage hostile drones like those that breached the airspace of Langley Air Force Base in Virginia for 17 days in December…