How a rogue planning cell engineered the most decisive air war in modern history. When the exercise “Internal” Look kicked off at a mock command center at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., in July 1990 no one knew quite how...
January/February 2026
Vol. 109, No. 1
How the Air Force Cleared the Way for Delta Force. The daring raid on Caracas, Venezuela, to snatch and grab Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro may have been characterized by Secretary of State Marco Rubio as a law enforcement operation, but...
Retiring after 40 years of aerospace and defense journalism—31 years with Air & Space Forces Magazine—John Tirpak offers observations and advice on how to tell the Air Force’s continuing story. O ver the past few decades, the Air Force’s cumulative budget...
Beast in the Machine
How Robotics and AI Will Transform Warfare and the Future of Human Conflict. The first wave of the robotic revolution is underway: smart, precision-guided weapons are proliferating into every corner of war. The big cruise missiles and laser-guided smart bombs...
Dynamic Space Operations
To prevail in space, the Space Force must be able to challenge adversaries withmultidimensional dilemmas. Space is now a warfighting domain, with growing threats to and increasing operational demands on U.S. space capabilities. New systems and operational concepts that increase...
Editorial: Deterring Now Costs Less than Winning Later
In a period of seven months, the United States executed two extremely different, yet equally devastating military operations on two sides of the world. In June’s Operation Midnight Thunder, seven U.S. B-2 bombers destroyed most of Iran’s nuclear production capacity...
WORLD: Washington
Trump Promises a $1.5 Trillion Defense Budget What a 50% Spending Boost Might Mean for the Air Force and Space Force. By Courtney Albon President Donald Trump was so impressed with the military’s successful Operation Absolute Resolve in Venezuela Jan. 3...
WORLD: Air
Compromise Defense Bill Adds Funds for Fighters, E-7 By Greg Hadley Congress is looking to add $900 million to save the E-7 airborne early warning and control aircraft from cancellation and $500 million aircraft from cancellation and $500 million to address...
WORLD: Space
Space Force Looks Beyond Earth’s Orbits By Courtney Albon The Space Force’s small size has limited its capacity to consider what role it will play in future operations on and around the moon. That needs to change, according to Vice...
WORLD: Personnel
Air Force Basic Training’s Mock Airfields By Matthew Cox Second Air Force officials plan to inject more realism in Basic Military Training this year by building two mock airfields where Airmen will get hands-on training with real combat aircraft. By...
WORLD: Heritage
Gene Smith, Former POW and AFA Chair, Dies at 91 By Tobias Naegele Lt. Col. Richard “Gene” Smith, who overcame five and a half years as a prisoner of war in the notorious Hanoi Hilton from 1967 until 1973, died...
Letters
We love letters! Write to us at letters@afa.org. To be published, letters should be timely, relevant and concise. Include your name and location. Letters may be edited for space and the editors have final say on which are published. Long...
Faces of the Force
Tell us who you think we should highlight here. Write to letters@afa.org U.S. Air Force Maj. Andre “Guns” Golson, a 31st Operations Support Squadron F-16 fighter pilot at Aviano Air Base, Italy, earned the Lt. Gen. Claire Lee Chennault Award...
Verbatim
China Watch “This is the most stunning development in Chinese politics since the early days of Xi’s rise to power when he purged the General Officer Corps of those he feared would oppose him. He now has only one officer...
AFA IN ACTION: AFA’s Heritage Hall Honors the Legacy of the Air Force and Space Force
Inside the Air & Space Forces Association (AFA) headquarters in Arlington, Va., two striking walls line the main corridor that draw visitors into a vivid journey through the history of American airpower and spacepower. Known as the Heritage Hall, this...
Heroes and Leaders: James H. Doolittle
Leader—Warrior—Scholar. Jimmy Doolittle is perhaps the most recognizable aviator in American history. He was famous throughout the interwar period for his daredevil stunts and racing plane exploits. Soon after Pearl Harbor he flew the legendary raid on Tokyo, leading a...
