When Sputnik Shocked the World

The Department of the Air Force has identified 50 programs that will make up the core of its contribution to the Pentagon’s joint all-domain command and control effort, branding them part of the “DAF Battle Network,” according to newly-released budget documents. The DAF Battle Network programs span multiple offices and agencies…

NORAD boss Gen. Glen VanHerck stressed the need for over-the-horizon radars and other capabilities to bring homeland defense in line with threats from Russia and China.

While Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said he's “comfortable” with the amount of spending in the Air Force’s fiscal 2024 budget, Rep. Rob Wittman (R-V.) said it’s not big enough, arguing for funding that at least matches the rate of inflation.

As the Air Force’s broader focus shifts to the Pacific and Europe, the U.S. military will rely on aging close air support aircraft to meet the needs of its forces in the Middle East. A-10 Thunderbolt IIs will deploy to the region in April, a U.S. official told Air &…

While U.S. military leaders worry about China as a near-peer threat, Chinese leader Xi Jinping has doubts has serious doubts about the PLA’s political reliability, leadership, and ability to mobilize, fight, and win wars, according to a new report.

The Air Force is asking for about $6 billion to develop Collaborative Combat Aircraft over the future years defense plan, up from a get-started amount of nearly $400 million in fiscal 2024. One of the first types of CCAs will be for “spectrum warfare,” but its specific characteristics are awaiting…

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has proven that air superiority is vital to success in conflict, Gen. James B. Hecker, the top U.S. Air Force commander in Europe, said March 22. In a Mitchell Institute event, Hecker argued that if Russia had gained air superiority early in the conflict, Ukraine would…

Nearly two dozen Air Force brigadier generals have been tapped to receive a second star, the Department of Defense announced March 22—including Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Patrick S. Ryder and Brig. Gen. Dale R. White, who oversees the service’s acquisition portfolio for fighters and advanced aircraft. 

The future U.S. bomber force could provide a way for the Pentagon to simultaneously deter conflict with peer adversaries in two geographically disparate theaters, said Mark Gunzinger, the director of future concepts and capability assessments at AFA's Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, during a March 21 event. But doing so…