Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz announced his 2012 reading list, which includes 13 books. “We airmen are innovators because we embrace the word ‘why’ and mine it for better, smarter ways to operate,” wrote Schwartz in a letter to airmen dated Jan. 6. This year’s list includes, for the first time, supplementary films, treatises, and Internet-based resources. The list of topics includes foreign policy, diversity, technology, the US Constitution, and reality-based fiction, according to the letter. Schwartz said he will highlight a few of the books each quarter of the year in an effort to “foster our steady professional development.” For the first three months, he recommends: Airpower for Strategic Effect by Colin Gray; Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand; and Start with Why by Simon Sinek. (SAF/PA release) (See also the 2011 list.)
The new F-15E and F-15EX electronic warfare suite, meant to protect the fourth-generation fighters in contested battlespace—was shown to be “operationally effective” and “suitable,” the Pentagon's Director of Operational Test and Evaluation said.