Echoing former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s calls for military reform prior to 9/11, a new Center for a New American Security study urges the Department of Defense to transform itself in order to sustain American pre-eminence in the world. In Sustainable Pre-eminence: Reforming the US Military at a Time of Strategic Change, the think tank’s authors—retired Army Lt. Gen. David Barno, Nora Benshael, Matthew Irvine, and Travis Sharp—argue that the reality of austere budgets presents the US military with an opportunity for change. Among the recommendations, the study, released on May 23, calls for DOD to accelerate development in technology, especially unmanned, autonomous, and artificial-intelligence systems, and to downsize headquarters staffs and the civilian contractor workforce. Air Force-specific recommendations include reducing the planned F-35A inventory from 1,763 to between 1,000 and 1,200 airframes, creating a new requirement for a long-range stealthy remotely piloted strike/ISR platform, and sustaining the existing timeline for a new bomber aircraft, but re-evaluating the current goal of fielding an inventory of between 80 and 100 aircraft.
PHOTOS: 12 B-2s Conduct Massive Fly-Off, Elephant Walk
April 19, 2024
The Air Force carried out the largest B-2 Spirit fly-offs in recent history, when 12 aircraft—the majority of the nation's stealth bombers—took off one by one on April 15 from Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo. The event also created a massive elephant walk as the aircraft taxied to and took…