The Air Force hopes to snag $836 million in fiscal 2026 for rapidly deployable air base defenses to thwart incoming drones and missiles.
drones
A new startup has a contract with the Air Force’s innovation arm and a prototype to test its new concept: a network of “flying pickup truck” drones to solve the problem of logistics in the Pacific.
The proliferation of small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has shaken up the military world, fueling concern that UAVs could revolutionize airpower concepts and even negate the need for air superiority as a fundamental objective of airpower strategy. These perspectives suffer from a collective airpower amnesia ...
Lawmakers on both sides of Capitol Hill are pressing the Pentagon to get serious about the threat cheap, small drones pose to U.S. forces at home and abroad—and to put them in the hands of American troops as quickly as possible.
Defense experts say the drone threat represents only part of a larger, looming problem: U.S. air bases in the Pacific are increasingly vulnerable to air attacks.
The Air Force on June 5 stood up a new unit to figure out how to use drone wingmen, known as "Collaborative Combat Aircraft," in future air wars.
The top Air Force officer says President Trump’s ambitious "Golden Dome" homeland defense initiative could ultimately counter the kind of strike Ukraine carried out earlier this week, using drones to hit multiple Russian aircraft deep inside the country.
As innovative as Ukraine's drone attack on Russia's bomber fleet was, it's not a template for how the U.S. should conduct air wars, two experts said.
The attack should make the Air Force think about balancing its force design between high-end platforms with “exquisite” capabilities and cheaper, attritable platforms like the one-way drones Ukraine employed, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin told the fourth annual Exchange on Innovation ...
The Pentagon is seeking ways to down hostile drones to defend military bases without endangering nearby civilians or infrastructure—and it wants solutions soon.
Less than a day after arriving in the Middle East, F-15E Strike Eagles from Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C. defended Israel from an Iranian attack in April 2024. DUDE flight, four F-15Es from the 335th Fighter Squadron, downed two dozen Iranian drones in roughly ...
The United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force has unveiled a new electronic warfare drone designed to fly with fighter jets into contested airspace, including alongside its fleet of F-35s. RAF says it plans to develop models that draw on the U.S. Air Force’s approach of mating unmanned ...
