The Space Force is ramping up its investment in domain awareness to stay ahead in the increasingly contested space environment, and Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman described the effort as essential to his “Competitive Endurance” theory meant to guide the entire service.
Wargames run by the Mitchell Institute show that moderately-priced and moderately-capable autonomous aircraft would be a huge benefit to the Air Force in a Pacific fight, imposing costs on an adversary, and enhancing the effectiveness of crewed combat aircraft.
As both China and the U.S. push further into space, with plans to explore and conduct research on the moon in the not-so-distant future, the Pentagon and Congress need to take steps now to ensure freedom of operations in cislunar space—the vast expanse between geosynchronous ...
Space Force leaders have become increasingly vocal about the need for responsible counterspace capabilities: weapons and operations that can hold enemies' space assets at risk to deter conflict. And it’s not just words—within the past year, the service has activated several units key to the ...
Military missions in the air, on land, and at sea demand robust, timely weather information. On-orbit space-based environmental monitoring (SBEM) systems are a critical source of this data, but years of underfunding, delayed, curtailed, and canceled modernization programs have left the SBEM enterprise in a ...
Space Force Chief Technology and Innovation Officer Lisa Costa called artificial intelligence a “game-changer” for the service during a recent Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies’ webinar event, highlighting its potential to enhance USSF’s operational capabilities and affect the global space race, while also acknowledging some ...
The 16th Air Force is working on an “information warfare operation center concept” to more effectively counteract the influence of China and Russia, commander Lt. Gen. Kevin B. Kennedy said Nov. 13. The goal of the construct is to provide “unity of effort” across the service, Kennedy ...
Italy, one of the F-35's biggest international partners, is expanding plans for how to use the fifth-generation fighter—and drawing lessons as it starts development of a sixth-gen aircraft, the Italian Air Force’s top officer said Oct. 12. Gen. Luca Goretti highlighted the interoperability and versatility of ...
Last month, more than five years of collaboration between National Reconnaissance Office and the U.S. Space Force culminated in the launch of their SILENTBARKER satellites, which will track objects and monitor activity in geosynchronous orbit. Now, the two organizations hope to use that same template of ...
The Air Force is a user of cyber infrastructure but isn't good at creating it, so it should rely on industry systems to stay ahead in the "arms race" of hacking attacks, service chief scientist and former DARPA director Victoria Coleman said during an AFA ...
With upcoming budget deliberations and an expected Nuclear Posture Review, Air Force and U.S. Strategic Command leaders are making the case that the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent is a critical program and is actually cheaper than extending the life of the aging Minuteman III. Other modernization ...
Air Mobility Command has big plans to overhaul its gray-tailed heavies for the high-end fight, turning airlifters into command and control assets and possibly putting air-to-air missiles on tankers. The long-term planning is a shift away from the idea of keeping mobility assets away from ...