There’s no danger that stealth will be overcome by new radar and other sensor technologies anytime soon, said Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh. At a Pentagon press briefing on Jan. 15, Welsh was asked if the slowness of fielding the F-35 places the aircraft at risk of being obsolete by the time it’s available in quantity. Welsh replied that critics assert that “stealth is no longer valuable” whenever a “piece” of what constitutes stealth is compromised. “The reality is, stealth is a combination of things,” he said. In addition to low-observable technology, stealth comprises “speed, … different ways of collecting data, different ways of transmitting and protecting transmissions. It is a way of breaking kill chains,” he said. Welsh said “as long as we break the kill chain … between when you arrive in the battlespace and when the enemy weapon approaches your airplane, you’re successful at using stealth. And I don’t see anything that indicates that is not going to be true 10 years from now.” (James-Welsh transcript)
House, Senate Unveil Competing Proposals for 2026 Budget
July 11, 2025
Lawmakers from the House and Senate laid out competing versions of the annual defense policy bill on July 11, with vastly different potential outcomes for some of the Air Force’s most embattled programs.