Bombers are a better bet than standoff weapons for managing combat at long range, according to a new Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies report, released June 18. While standoff weapons are needed for key targets inside a well-fortified enemy's air defenses, only bombers can provide ...
New legislation further establishes the Space Force as the sixth branch of the military, but wants a closer look at who will do that work and where. The Senate Armed Services Committee’s version of the fiscal 2021 defense policy bill, approved June 10, would temporarily ...
More than 8,500 Airmen applied to formally transfer into the Space Force during the month of May, about half the number of people who currently work for the fledgling service. Space Force officials will choose about 6,000 of those satellite operators, intelligence analysts, cyber professionals, ...
A recent defense decree by Russian president Vladimir Putin says that country can use nuclear weapons to retaliate against non-nuclear attacks—such as with hypersonic weapons or massive cyber action—if the intent is to disable Russian command and control. The statement, which laid out conditions for ...
A top space operations official outlined how America’s foray into commercial space travel could shape the military’s work, on the heels of SpaceX’s successful Crew Dragon launch to the International Space Station on May 30. NASA and SpaceX launched two astronauts into orbit from U.S. ...
The Air Force can't afford to keep the force it has and modernize it, so it must choose new technology over force structure, Brig. Gen. S. Clinton Hinote, acting director of the Air Force Warfighting Integration Capability, said May 27. Modernization was put off too ...
Some space watchers say NASA’s return to launching astronauts from U.S. soil this week could shape the far future of military manned spaceflight, though others say the new Space Force doesn’t need to aim for “boots on the Moon.” SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft will carry ...
The X-37B spaceplane launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., on May 17, sending the U.S. Air Force Academy's largest batch of satellite experiments to date along for the ride. USAFA’s FalconSat program, run with the Air Force Research Laboratory and contractor Geneva Technologies, ...
The X-37B spaceplane will embark on its sixth mission from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., on May 16, Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett said. The secretive, unmanned orbital test vehicle, which will launch on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, is notching new ...