The Air Force is slashing all civilian positions at its premier research institute for Chinese military aviation, prompting concern among experts who say it will dilute the service’s focus on the Pentagon’s most significant long-term adversary.
Mitchell Insitute for Aerospace Studies
In June 2026, airpower experts from the U.S. Air Force, seven allied air forces, and industry convened for a three-day wargame designed to stress notional 2036 USAF combat forces in a series of concurrent crises: a Russian assault against NATO...
The Air Force awarded a sweeping—and potentially massive—F-15 contract to Boeing this week, one that a top aviation expert said could provide a new approach to major program acquisitions and greater stability for the defense industry.
For former Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall, building Airmen’s trust in Collaborative Combat Aircraft is a crucial step in the fast-moving development and deployment of the semi-autonomous drones.
Analysis of commercial satellite imagery indicates China held a major five-week air exercise encompassing eight bases and some 200 aircraft, across a 1,200-nautical mile swath of the country in late 2025.
In order to deny China “sanctuaries” from which it can launch air and missile salvos during a potential invasion of Taiwan, the U.S. Air Force needs to buy far more B-21 bombers and F-47 fighters than currently planned, according to a new report from AFA’s Mitchell Institute for ...
Readiness and sustainment are the clear priorities for Air Combat Command boss Gen. Adrian “Elmo” Spain, but the career fighter pilot has three other focuses too: Adapting to the strategic environment, modernizing for the future, and empowering leaders at the operational level. “If we [have to] go fight,...
The Air Force’s new fighter plan calls for a 30 percent increase in fighter jets, but achieving that increase will be challenging, and the plan lacks a convincing force-sizing rationale, according to former service leaders and defense analysts.
Lt. Gen. Andrew J. Gebara, deputy chief of staff for strategic deterrence and nuclear integration, said the B-52's new radar will soon enter flight testing and is “turning a corner” after a cost overrun triggered a notification to Congress and program review earlier this year. ...
Following the carnage of trench warfare in World War I, airpower enthusiasts imagined a new kind of combat that would reduce the human toll of war. Yet even with today’s precision weapons, civilian casualties remain a constant. Now some see artificial intelligence as a means ...
The Air Force Historical Foundation honored a pair of storied Airmen with lifetime achievement awards at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center May 22. Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. David A. Deptula, dean of AFA’s Mitchell Institute...
The projected "Golden Dome" missile defense system could push the U.S. military to broaden its thinking on how to support space operations, the Space Force’s top planner said May 15.
