INFOGRAPHIC
February 2018
Vol. 101, No. 2
A dozen years after the F-22’s operational debut and two years after the F-35 was declared ready for c
A long list of obscure elements are vital for advanced electronics and military systems. China has cor
Life on the Line
PICTORIAL | USAF is probably buying fewer aircraft than you think. Here’s a look at what’s actually in
USAF Has Too Many Missions and Not Enough Airmen
Then-1st Lt. Duston O’Brien, a pilot with the 71st Fighter Training Squadron, boards a T-38 at JB Langley-Eustis, Va. A1C Tristan Biese In congressional testimony and speeches over the last few years, senior Air Force leaders have gotten almost rote...
Editorial: Develop, Borrow, Steal: The Race for Tech
EDITORIAL | USAF is developing the next generation of revolutionary capabilities. Can it field them fi
In Pursuit of the Bismarck
Swordfish torpedo bombers crippled the German battleship. British battleships cruised in to finish the
Forward Deployed
BLUE FLAG IN ISRAEL US airmen in November had the chance to work with airmen from seven other nations during Blue Flag 2017, a multinational exercise in, and hosted by, Israel. The goal of the two-week exercise was “to simulate...
Letters
Joint Punishment Your editorial on joint assignments [“Giving Joint Assignments Their Due,” December, p. 2] provided a good analysis of the dilemma of serving in joint assignments. I agree that the Air Force needs to “train, educate, develop, and reward...
Verbatim
Of Glass Houses … “We need to move quickly. We need to accelerate [space] acquisition. We need to innovate and prototype new systems faster … stop studying things to death, and get capability in orbit for the warfighter. … The...
Compass Call and Response
Electronic Warfare Isn’t Going Away—but EC-130Hs Will. Transplanting the innards of the Air Force’s Compass Call electronic warfare aircraft to a new host platform is finally underway, after an exhausting prelude of protests, congressional interference, and public criticism of USAF’s...
Aperture
Dec. 15, 2017—Washington, D.C. A PEEK AT THE NEW WORLD ORDER Work said the US will have to “unlearn the lessons” of the last 26 years when the post-Cold War world offered no existential military challenges to the US. This...
Replacing Minuteman
The Air Force is finally moving forward with a program to develop a next generation ICBM.
Namesakes: Tinker
Osage Air Warrior For a military airman, Clarence L. Tinker’s life was unusual. He was born not in a US state but in the Osage Nation, closer—in time—to Custer’s last stand than to Kitty Hawk. He didn’t receive his wings...
