The Air Force should build its capacity and striking power with collaborative combat aircraft but must put the teaming aspect of the new class of weapons first, getting the concepts and software right at the outset to ensure that autonomous airplanes do what’s needed and ...
fifth-generation fighters
The Air Force wants to retire its F-22, the world’s greatest fighter jet, within the decade. Congress doesn’t agree.
The Next-Generation Air Dominance family of systems remains highly classified. But some details are beginning to emerge.
A collection of quotes on air power, space power, and national security issues.
F-22s from the 1st Fighter Wing landed at Al Dhafra Air Base, United Arab Emirates, on Feb. 12, fulfilling a pledge by Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III to deploy fifth-generation aircraft to the Gulf nation. The decision to deploy fifth-generation fighters, instead of F-15s ...
The Air and Space Forces rated “weak” ratings from the Heritage Foundation’s 2022 Index of U.S. Military Strength.
The range of current Air Force weapons compels pilots of stealth aircraft to get too close to their targets, risking that they’ll be seen and shot down, Air Combat Command boss Gen. Mark D. Kelly said Sep. 22. The service must have longer-range “fifth-generation weapons” ...
The Air Force's first application of low-cost attritable aircraft systems will be as stealthy, jamming adversary systems for F-22 and F-35 fighters to practice against, Gen. Mark D. Kelly, head of Air Combat Command, said in a virtual seminar presented by the Air Force's Life ...
The two-war force-sizing construct should be restored in the next National Defense Strategy being developed by the Biden administration, according to a new paper from the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. The authors argued that a one-war capacity invites adversaries to take advantage of U.S. ...
The Air Force plans to begin evolving its fighter fleet to one that can win a Pacific war by retiring 421 old jets and buying 304 new ones, transitioning away from the F-22 and A-10 to an advanced, sixth-generation fighter and an F-16 replacement in ...
The next National Defense strategy must mitigate against looming risks.
The Air Force will soon embark on a major new analysis of its tactical fighter mix, looking for the right capabilities in the high-, middle- and low-end spectrum of warfare, service Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. said Feb. 17. The study will ...
