Combat airpower requires more planes and more pilots to fly them. The U.S. Air Force is stretched thin by unrelenting rotational and contingency response demands, and its chronic pilot shortage just won’t go away. For more than a decade, the Air...
CCA
A program meant to pave the way for autonomous combat flying technologies took a step forward April 1 with the arrival of the last fighter jet to complete the VENOM test fleet.
The Air Force needs a high-end aircraft that can operate in contested environments that will work with the service’s new Collaborative Combat Aircraft semi-autonomous drones and other less pricey platforms, the service's officer said March 18. “Instead of going all high-end and then breaking the ...
This week’s revelation that the Air Force had designated its first uncrewed fighters set the stage for the makers of the two aircraft to talk about the logistics of deploying them to dispersed locations.
AURORA, Colo.—Air & Space Forces Magazine caught up with Heather Penney, former F-16 pilot and now a senior fellow with the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, at the AFA Warfare Symposium to break down the biggest developments from Air Force...
The Air Force’s first two collaborative combat aircraft are fighters, the first uncrewed aircraft to carry such a designation, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin unveiled in a keynote address at the AFA Warfare Symposium March 3. General Atomics’ CCA will be ...
Nellis and the F-35 are just phase one of the Air Force’s revolutionary training technology, which will dramatically change the way warfighters prepare for combat.
News coming out of the White House since President Donald J. Trump’s inauguration Jan. 20 is striking in its velocity. The subjects of his Executive Orders and policy memos were unsurprising, fulfilling oft-repeated campaign promises, but the speed, volume, and details—or lack of them—caught everyone ...
Frank Kendall, the most consequential Air Force Secretary in years, departed the Pentagon in January at the end of an eventful three-and-a-half-year tenure as the 26th Secretary of the Air Force. His most important contribution, he thinks: Raising “a sense...
More Air Force, a Missile Shield, and the Pentagon’s New Boss Allvin says today’s Air Force is too small. Can he convince Hegseth? By A&SF Magazine Staff A year into his role as Air Force Chief of Staff, Gen. David W....
The Air Force now believes a single manned fighter can control a larger number of drones than previously thought, and can do so using less-sophisticated autonomous technology, according to USAF's director of force design.
The second version of the Collaborative Combat Aircraft should have more capability than the first but mustn't be an "exquisite" and expensive platform that would defeat the notion of "affordable mass," outgoing Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said.