Superior command and control will enable the US to prevent war by confronting enemies with too many perils to handle, Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein said at AWS17. The ability to “create multiple dilemmas from multiple domains”—air, space, cyber,...
The Air Force is pushing to get more airmen appointed as joint force commanders, and is working to ensure that they are ready for the job, Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein said at AWS17. Airmen will start out in...
The Air Force is “absolutely working to in?crease” stockpiles of precision-guided munitions, which, as the preferred weapons in the anti-ISIS campaign, have been drawn down to very low levels, service acquisition chief Darlene Costello said Thursday. Speaking with reporters at...
Just three USAF MQ-9 Reapers contributed significantly to the defeat of ISIS in its largest stronghold outside of Iraq and Syria, flying more than 60 percent of all strikes to wipe out the group in Sirte, Libya. Operation Odyssey Lightning,...
The US-led coalition has seen Russia turn on its advanced S-300 anti-aircraft systems in Syria and “paint” aircraft, but there has not been a threat from the systems yet, said Maj. Gen Jay Silveria, deputy commander of Air Forces Central...
USAF joint terminal attack controllers are on the ground pushing into western Mosul with Iraqi forces, directing airstrikes within the city. The Air Force has talked extensively about the presence of JTACS in air operations centers both in Iraq and...
Command and control is “what will keep us ahead” as China, Russia, and other potential adversaries catch up in aerospace technology and imitate the US Air Force, Air Combat Command chief Gen. Hawk Carlisle asserted at AWS17 Thursday. The key...
US Special Operations Command is currently testing a laser weapon system and hopes to have “a layout of proof of concept” completed within “months to maybe a year,” Lt. Gen. Brad Webb, chief of Air Force Special Operations Command, told...
The B-21 bomber is “progressing really well,” Global Strike Command chief Gen. Robin Rand told reporters at AWS17. AFGSC now has a contingent in the Pentagon at the Rapid Capabilities Office, which is running the program, he reported. And, so...
Air mobility crews are active across the Middle East setting up remote airfields, like they did with the Qayyarah West airfield, which Iraqi forces retook from ISIS last year. Air Mobility Command chief Gen. Carlton Everhart, citing security, would not...
The US-led coalition has enough intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance to handle the current fight against ISIS, but it needs to prepare for what’s next and how the battlefield will change after allied forces retake the main cities held by the...
The US-led coalition fighting ISIS needs to target the terrorist network’s use of drones not just as an individual quadcopter that needs to be taken down, but instead as a weapons system that needs to be targeted in full. Maj....
US forces last fall set up a remote airfield inside Syria and have flown 50 C-17 missions as of last week, according to Air Forces Central Command. The remote airfield has also been used for more than 100 C-130 flights...
Air Force Space Command boss Gen. Jay Raymond called space “the DNA of fusion,” noting space is a part of everything the US military does today. Speaking at AWS17 Thursday, Raymond said Space Command has worked hard “to integrate those...
Air Force Global Strike Command needs to “upgrade our current platforms that we have so that they can be persistent in war,” said commander Gen. Robin Rand at AWS17 on Thursday. “We can hold … any target on the planet...
?There’s no cost-cutting going on with the Presidential Aircraft Replacement program yet, because the program isn’t yet to the stage of “negotiations,” Air Force acquisition chief Darlene Costello told reporters at AWS17. Costello said the service has been working for...
The Air Force is working with the White House Office of Military Requirements to adjust what is needed in the next-generation Air Force One. Air Mobility Command chief Gen. Carlton Everhart said he had a “very interesting conversation” with then-President...
The Air Force is giving helicopter companies more time to revise their offerings for the UH-1N utility helicopter replacement contest, service acquisition chief Darlene Costello said Thursday. Speaking with reporters at AWS17, Costello said after the release of the draft...
Boeing announced Thursday at AWS17 it will compete to replace the UH-1N Huey with its MH-139, a version of the AW139 already being produced by AgustaWestland. Program director Rick Lemaster said the MH-139 will have a top speed of 165...
Twenty-three nations have signed on to either participate in or observe Air Mobility Command’s first Mobility Guardian exercise, making the Air Force’s first and largest mobility exercise a showcase of its capability in addition to training, AMC chief Gen. Carlton...
The future of propulsion will at least be complemented heavily by adaptive engine design, according to a panel of experts and industry executives. And Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein thinks that future is bright. “I believe we’ll bring propulsion...
Global Strike Command chief Gen. Robin Rand says he will “continue to advocate” for re-engining the B-52 bomber. “We have some money to look at that,” Rand told reporters at AWS17, though the funding is only enough for “feasibility analysis.”...
New CMSAF Kaleth Wright said his tenure as the service’s top enlisted leader will focus on training, leadership, and resiliency. Speaking at at AWS17, Wright acknowledged the service was facing “pockets of morale challenges,” but insisted that morale was not...
Training airmen for the battlespace of the future will require fusion training environments that use fifth generation capabilities of the F-35 and T-X trainer, top Air Force generals said at AWS17 Thursday. Fusion warfare will require “agile airmen, highly trained...
US aircraft early Thursday conducted more than 20 airstrikes throughout Yemen, targeting Al Qaeda militants, equipment, and infrastructure, the Pentagon announced. The airstrikes, which took place in the Al Bayda and Shabwah governorates, were conducted in partnership with the Yemeni...