John A. Tirpak

John A. Tirpak is Editorial Director of Air & Space Forces Magazine, with more than 25 years at the publication and more than 34 years in defense journalism. He has written for Aviation Week & Space Technology, Aerospace Daily, and Jane’s, reporting from all 50 U.S. states and 25 countries. He has been recognized with awards for journalistic excellence from the Society of Professional Journalists, the Aviation and Space Writer’s Association, the Association of Business Publications International, and was the recipient of the 2018 Gill Robb Wilson Award in Arts and Letters from the Air & Space Forces Association. He has lectured at the National War College and did postgraduate research at the Smithsonian’s National Air & Space Museum.   


Recent stories by John A. Tirpak

Acquisition Boss: Spending Caps Forced USAF to Trim 2025 Budget Request

Spending caps set under the Fiscal Responsibility Act shaved around two percent from the topline of the Air Force’s planned fiscal 2025 budget, and that reduction will have an outsized impact given constraints on what accounts can bear the cuts, Air Force acquisition executive Andrew ...

Air Force Deploys Live Hypersonic ARRW Missile to Guam

The Air Force has published images of an operational hypersonic Air-Launched Rapid-Response Weapon (ARRW) in Guam; a disclosure possibly meant to send a message to China but which raises questions about the future of the ARRW, which the Air Force insists it is not planning ...

Search the archives for more stories by John A. Tirpak