Ideas

What Clinton’s Foreign Affairs Article May Mean for the Defense Budget

Her approach, more rebalancing rather than modernizing, avoids a simple zero-sum frame of defense vs. non-defense spending.

Ideas

The Coming F-35 Fiasco

Now that Qatar is asking for the jet, it’s time to consider an entirely different approach to helping Gulf nations defend themselves.

Business

How An Amateur Planespotter Sparked Nuclear Dread

The bogus Trump-COVID-E-6B connection reminds us to be wary of ascribing meaning to coincidence.

Ideas

The US Should Remove Its Nukes from Europe

There’s no prudent use case, and their non-stealthy fighter jets can’t deliver them anyway.

Threats

Air Force Wants 'Data Science Ecosystems' to Shorten OODA Loops

The AF Research Lab is looking for ways to deal with the rising ocean of surveillance video and other sensor data.

Ideas

The Real F-35 Problem We Need to Solve

Unless its logistics can be improved, the jet’s contributions to a major fight will be far less than Pentagon wargamers are counting on.

Ideas

A $13 Billion Contract for ICBMs: What’s the Rush?

The deal needs closer scrutiny — as does the purported need for new long-range ballistic missiles at all.

Ideas

The Air Force Needs a New Non-Stealthy Bomber

There are important things the B-1 and B-52 do that the B-21 won’t.

Science & Tech

Air Force to Try In-Flight Software Update

The demonstration would show how the service’s DevSecOps initiative can deliver updates to warfighters in real time.

Defense Systems

From weapons to workforce, digital centricity is the Air Force's new motto

Air Force leadership highlights the need for digitally fluent personnel and digital manufacturing during the 2020 Air, Space, Cyber conference.

Science & Tech

Revealed: US Air Force Has Secretly Built and Flown a New Fighter Jet

The new digital tools that designed the full-scale flight demonstrator could herald a sea change in weapons acquisition.

Business

Air Force General Defends Plans for Mixed F-35, F-15 Fleet

Top Air Force generals are expected to discuss the service’s future fighter force in upcoming meetings.

Business

Lockheed-Boeing Battle Heats Up as USAF Looks to Buy F-15EX

The F-35 maker is fighting to keep its monopoly on the Air Force’s fighter-jet shopping list.