National Security

Verbatim

June 18, 2026
A collection of quotes on airpower, space power, and national security issues.

WORLD: Readiness

June 18, 2026
New KC-46 Vision System Slips to ’28  By Matthew Cox The Air Force says it has formed a plan with Boeing to get key upgrades deployed across the KC-46 tanker fleet faster—but the service acknowledged it won’t start fielding the...

WORLD: Iran

June 18, 2026
Epic Fury’s Epic Cost: $29B  By Chris Gordon The cost of operations against Iran has risen to $29 billion, a senior Pentagon official told lawmakers May 12, a $4 billion increase from the Department of Defense’s last public estimate two...

WORLD: Budget

June 18, 2026
Inside the $1.5T Budget Request By Greg Hadley, Matthew Cox, Steve Losey The Trump administration’s record-breaking $1.5 trillion defense budget request for fiscal 2027 would represent a $441 billion increase over the fiscal 2026 budget, a 44 percent jump that...
China’s rise, Iranian terror, and Russian belligerence point to the enduring need for deterrent airpower. Scale matters. The U.S. Air Force may not need to match China plane for plane, but it cannot continue to shrink to a shadow of its former size. Airpower is ...