Peace, Not War
From this moment forward, the only mission of the newly restored Department of War is this:
warfighting, preparing for war and preparing to win, unrelenting and uncompromising in that pursuit not because we want war, no one here wants war, but it’s because we love peace. We love peace for our fellow citizens. They deserve peace, and they rightfully expect us to deliver.
—Secretary of War Pete Hegseth during his address to general and flag officers at Quantico, Va. [Sept. 30].
Peace Through Strength
We are so much stronger than the Russians. We don’t have to take down Russian airplanes because they enter our airspace. We do it if they enter our airspace and also pose a threat. If we were weak, we might think … we have to immediately show them that whenever they enter our airspace, we shoot them down.
—NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte arguing in favor of intercepting but not shooting down Russian aircraft that enter the alliance’s airspace.
Ready, Aim, Fire!
Shoot down Russian drones, period.
—Danish Army Chief Maj. Gen. Peter Harling Boysen at the AUSA conference on Oct. 15
Synthetic Air Battle
If you can turn a 2 vs.2 [engagement] into an 8 vs. 24, through someform of synthetic … embedded training, that’s a serious game-changer.
And better yet, in that scenario, you’re actually virtuallypracticing in the environment in which you’re fighting. That’s theway to go. So, we still need live-fly, still need the large Nellis range. But I think the advancement in synthetic training … is a game-changer.
—Maj. Gen. Duke Pirak, acting director of the Air National Guard, answering what “excites him” about emerging ways to enhance readiness at ASC25.
You Need Organic
As fighter pilots, we have a ‘weapon select switch’ on our throttles … it gives you a medium range missile … a short range missile, and … guns. It’s a really seamless way to switch between kill chains. I think eventually you’ll see us get to this point where we’re doing that with long- range kill chains and their shorter-range kill chains, with the ability to very quickly switch between [them] … and it becomes easy.
—Maj. Gen. Joseph D. Kunkel, director of force design, integration and wargaming, Air Force Futures, discussing the need for both long-range-kill chains versus organic kill chains AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference [ASC25].
Copperfield-esque
When we are most successful, our work can be invisible. No one thinks about the satellite that connects their phone call, or the signal that pinpoints their location, or the guardian who detects the missile launch, because it all just works—like we say, it’s freaking magic. The same is true for the people who build and buy the magical systems. To most Americans, their work is an invisible foundation of our national security. It’s the herculean, yet unseen effort that happens left of launch that ensures our success in, from, and to space.
—Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman speaking about the Space Force’s acquisition reform efforts at ASC25.
Avoid a Drone Race with China
Let me be real clear. We can’t keep up with China on drones. We just are not set up for it. … They are better at producing cheap electronics than we are. We need a different solution. We can’t do 1 vs. 1. We have to have effectors that can be effective against a significant number of drones.
—Michael Hiatt, chief technology officer at Epirus Inc., warning that the U.S. should not try to match China in raw numbers of drones at AFA’s ASC25 [Sept. 23].
