Verbatim. Air Force Magazine. Cornelia Schneider-Frank/Pixabay
Photo Caption & Credits

Verbatim

Connecting the Dots

Mike Tsukamoto/staff; Sgt. Dommnique Washington/USA; Pixabay

We can’t see all of the dots. … We have an inability to see everything. … We as U.S. Cyber Command or the National Security Agency may see what is occurring outside of the United States, but when it comes into the United States, our adversaries are moving very quickly. They understand the laws and the policies that we have within our nation, and so they’re utilizing our own infrastructure, our own internet service providers, to create these intrusions.

U.S. Army Gen. Paul M. Nakasone, commander of U.S. Cyber Command on the challenges of preventing cyber attacks against outside adversaries and also from within the U.S., seeking better information-sharing from the private sector
 [Associated Press, March 26].

Feed the Families

The problem of food insecurity among military families is an issue of mission readiness as well as troop retention and recruitment. … We believe that as a country we must do more to assist these struggling families, and therefore ask the Department of Defense to outline concrete steps they intend to take to support these families.

Sens. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.), in a letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III, March 19.

Redefining Jointness

PO1 Carlos Vazquez II/USN

If someone shows up to the battle and they don’t have long-range fires and the adversary does, you can’t effectively operate in that theatre. … This means you want each service to bring those long-range fires; so, the joint warfighting concept succeeds if all of the force can apply fires wherever they happen to be, wherever the target is, whatever the lines of conflict, that is the joint warfighting concept.

USAF Gen. John E. Hyten, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in disagreement with Gen. Timothy Ray’s assessment of the Army’s long-range fire capabilities [Defense One, April 6].

So, …What are We?

It’s sort of like we’re exclusively dating. We agreed to not see other people right now, but we haven’t committed to anything else yet.

A Lockheed Martin official, speaking about a bilateral agreement with startup Omnispace on future ventures dealing with direct-to-device 5G connectivity, alleviating the use of ground equipment that satellites must link to now [Breaking Defense, March 30].

Easy Targets

Tech. Sgt. Joshua Strang

Today’s air operation centers are static, easy targets to hit that are considered a huge … liability. There’s no resilience there.

DAF Deputy Chief Technology Officer, James “Rob” Beutel, on why the AF is experimenting with 5G to provide mobile, distributed command and control [Armed Forces Communications & Electronics Association, April 7 ].

Nothing Lasts Forever

Tech. Sgt. John McRell

Undefeated in aerial combat, the F-15 Eagle epitomized air superiority in the minds of our adversaries, allies, and the American people for over 45 years. But it was not meant to fly forever. The F-15C and D fleets, in their current state, place us at great risk.

Lt. Gen. Duke Z. Richardson, the military deputy in the Office of Air Force for Acquisition, on the need for the new F-15E-X due to structural issues and age of the current fleet, April 7.

Through the Looking Glass

Mike Tsukamoto/staff; Pixabay

It’s like the Pentagon is finding itself staring in the rearview mirror in the face of oncoming traffic.

Mackenzie Eaglen, defense analyst, American Enterprise Institute, discussing slow development of new U.S. military technology versus near-peer competitors [Washington Post, April 1].