Lawmakers want very tight oversight of the Next Generation Air Dominance fighters and Collaborative Combat Aircraft drones, demanding detailed six-month updates on their progress across a myriad of component categories, according to the 2024 compromise National Defense Authorization Act.
Budget
The U.S. can’t match China plane-for-plane or ship-for-ship and shouldn’t try, defense experts told the House Armed Services Committee. But the defense industrial base has to be married to new, asymmetric, disruptive operational concepts that the Pentagon is willing to adapt on the fly.
As Congress barrels toward another government funding deadline, the Department of the Air Force has prepared a sobering assessment of how a continuing resolution would hurt the service’s modernization and undermine readiness. “Any length of CR impacts DAF readiness, hinders acceleration of the Space Force, delays ...
The Space Force is projecting budget reductions in the next few years—the first such cuts since the service was established in late 2019, according to a recently publicized report to Congress. Whether such reductions will actually come to pass remains uncertain.
The No. 1 priority of the National Military Strategy (NMS) has been to “Defend the Homeland.” Some 94 percent of that mission falls to Air National Guard squadrons sitting 24/7 alert in Reagan-era F-15 and F-16 fighter aircraft. That capability is now threatened, writes retired Maj. Gen. ...
With a government shutdown looking increasingly likely on Oct. 1, Active-Duty Airmen and Guardians will still report for duty. But things will be far from normal. For weeks, defense officials have warned of the impacts of a continuing resolution (CR), a short-term stopgap to keep ...
A collection of quotes on airpower, spacepower, and national security issues.
The Air Force plans to cut its F-15E fleet to 99 aircraft in the coming years—cutting more than 100 Strike Eagles from the fleet. The move comes as the service seeks to modernize and bring on new platforms while still keeping enough fighters to be ...
The Air Force is trying to work with Congress to shift funds around after the service was forced to pause bonus programs and permanent change-of-station (PCS) orders due to a budgetary shortfall, Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. confirmed July 11. But lawmakers ...