The Air Force on April 22 released a new doctrine that outlines the basic tenents of airpower, how and why the service fights, and reiterates the Air Force core values of “integrity first, service before self, and excellence in all we do.” In an email to retired and active general officers, Chief of Staff of the Air Force Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., said the doctrine serves as a “new cornerstone of airpower philosophy.” The updated document highlights the critical role of joint all-domain operations, looks to empower Airmen to challenge the status quo by rapidly putting innovative new ideas into action, and makes the Air Force’s new Agile Combat Employment strategy a foundational operating concept. Notably, the new doctrine focuses solely on the importance and role of airpower, leaving space doctrine to the U.S. Space Force.

The U.S. military needs to wake up to the fact that global dominance is no longer a viable strategy for national defense, because pursuing that unrealizable goal is making the country less safe, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee said April 22. Emerging defense technologies like swarms of cheap, attritable drones have ended the era of unipolarity and U.S. military preeminence, Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash) told the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute. “You can't just be so big and bad that no one's going to take you on, because they can take you on with a tiny little drone,” he said.

House Armed Services leaders say they'll move to block adding more F-35s than requested in the fiscal 2022 budget, in hopes of letting the overtaxed sustainment system for the fighter “catch up” to the fleet already in place. Without action on sustainment costs, the Air Force would only be able to afford about half the 1,763 F-35s they say they plan to build.

The proliferation of long-range strike options under development across all the U.S. armed forces should prompt a comprehensive review by civilian leaders, a new report by two influential think tanks concludes. Titled “Understanding the Long-Range Strike Debate,” the report by AFA's Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies and the Hudson Institute argues that while a mix of options is always advantageous, the true cost of those options must be well understood and the opportunity cost of pursuing more options could deprive commanders of better options over time.

With upcoming budget deliberations and an expected Nuclear Posture Review, Air Force and U.S. Strategic Command leaders are making the case that the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent is a critical program and is actually cheaper than extending the life of the aging Minuteman III. Other modernization programs, such as nuclear command and control and the B-21 Raider, are expected to face less scrutiny but are still just as necessary, said Lt. Gen. James C. Dawkins Jr., the deputy chief of staff for strategic deterrence and nuclear integration, during an April 22 Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies virtual event. “The challenge is because our nation has deferred modernization several times over the past 20-30 years, delivering these programs on time is critical to our strategic deterrent,” Dawkins said.

Since U.S. forces withdrew from Somalia earlier this year, they have been “commuting to work” via aircraft to help train Somali troops, but without a ground presence there is limited intelligence understanding, the head of U.S. Africa Command told lawmakers. In December 2020, former President Donald J. Trump ordered U.S. troops to leave Somalia and reposition at other bases in the region. There is still a “limited footprint” of less than 100 troops remaining in Somalia with the U.S. embassy, and other forces are based at locations outside the country, such as Kenya and Djibouti, AFRICOM boss Gen. Stephen J. Townsend told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

U.S. Central Command is searching for “innovative” ways to help the Afghan Air Force turn wrenches on their planes after U.S. and coalition forces withdraw from the country, though the command’s boss acknowledges it’s not going to be easy. “The U.S. contractors will come out as we come out. That is part of the plan [to] withdraw that we have in place right now,” CENTCOM boss Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr. said during an April 22 Pentagon briefing. “We’re examining alternatives to assist the Afghans in their maintenance effort from a distance. I don’t want to minimize that problem or make it appear to be easier than it’s going to be.”