Praise the Lord and Pass the Parachutes: The Pentagon’s new Unmanned Aircraft Systems Roadmap says it will take longer to prepare UASes for use in airlift operations (planned for 2025-30) than for air combat operations (predicted for 2020-25). Why? According to the report (p. 73), troops will be nervous about flying in a crew-less airplane. And foreign countries won’t like robotic aircraft landing and taking off in densely populated areas.
Air & Space Forces Magazine traveled the the globe in 2024 to cover the biggest stories involving the U.S. Air Force and Space Force, from Ukraine to the Middle East, from Florida to California. Now, as we head into 2025, here are some of the stories that we'll be keeping…