US special ops gets first Skyraider II close-support planes, eyes bespoke mission sets
Meanwhile an L3Harris exec told Breaking Defense that US Special Operations Command could request more of the prop planes than originally planned.
A-10: Hey Air Force, There’s More to Survival than Hiding
Anyone who's been around ground combat knows F-35s, F-22s and legacy fast jets are far too fast and lack the close in maneuverability to be able detect camouflaged threats to our troops or to separate friend from foe in a highly fluid firefight.
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More B-21s Likely; B-1s To Carry Up To 8 Hypersonic Weapons
The U.S. has 156 bombers today. But the Air Force is committed to boasting 386 squadrons, up 75 from its total today. "Certainly," Gen. Timothy Ray said, "that means good growth for the bombers."
House Members Seek NDAA Language to Force Light-Attack Aircraft Buy
Phil Clay, a former Navy test pilot for the Imminent Fury/Combat Dragon close air support experiments, says the Air Force should purchase "at least a wing" (20 planes) of the Light-Attack Aircraft for SOCOM and the so-called foreign internal defense (FID) mission to combat insurgencies.
Roper: Multi-Domain C2 Needs Air-Space Integration
"We've been kicking around this idea that there needs to be a milestone past D; a milestone E where the program is proving elderly and we're having to do Herculean tasks to keep airplanes flying that should have been retired long ago," says Air Force acquisition czar Will Roper.
Close Air Support Timeline Cut; Wait For Tech Was Too Long
For too long, the CAS program “was falling on deaf ears, because it didn’t quite fit exactly in somebody’s nice little picture of a program, and it wasn’t funded” within a traditional acquisition program.
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Cybersecurity skills don’t come from a manual, but from practical hands-on training
Cybersecurity skills must evolve in near-real time as Zero Day threats continue and AI provides new challenges.
Parts Problems Slow F-35 Production; CAPE Says Flying Costs Target Not Likely
F-35 Program Executive Officer Vice Adm. Mat Winter today told the HASC tactical air and land subcommittee that Lockheed was guilty of just that, adding that this had helped lead to a shortage of an average of 600 parts each month, causing production line slowdowns and cost increases.
No Light Attack Planes Any Time Soon: Air Force Undersecretary
AFA: The Air Force won’t issue a Request For Information on possible Light Attack aircraft, originally scheduled to come out December, in favor of doing a lot more experiments, Air Force Undersecretary Matt Donovan told reporters this morning. The service has been dithering for over a decade about whether to buy propeller-driven aircraft for affordable close […]
F-35’s First Combat Strike Won’t End Debate
WASHINGTON: The first-ever real-world strike by an F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is a big symbolic moment, as the Pentagon is well aware. It’s also a milestone towards making the F-35 a close-support aircraft to bomb targets threatening US ground troops, replacing the beloved A-10 Warthog. That’s why the military not only had a press release […]
SecAF: Don’t Expect Large Budget Increases After 2019; $2.4B Set For Light Attack
The Air Force placed a $2.4 billion placeholder in the 2019 budget to buy Light Attack Aircraft over the next five years, Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson told reporters this morning.
Michigan: Arsenal of Democracy for dangerous times
Michigan’s defense ecosystem and expertise makes it a special asset for production.
A Wider War: Army Revises Multi-Domain Battle With Air Force Help
AUSA: How do you coordinate foot soldiers moving four miles per hour with fighter jets moving 1,500 mph? To address the differences in speed and range, the Army’s Training & Doctrine Command is already revising its new “battlefield framework” – which was first circulated just in July – to open up the Army’s traditional geographic zones […]
Air Force Cautions On Light Attack Combat Test: AF1 Refueling Update
PENTAGON: It’s always difficult to tell when the military is covering its tuckus and when it’s just being careful. So when the outgoing head of the Air Force press desk, Col. Patrick Ryder, told reporters this afternoon that the service had not made any decision about whether to go ahead with a combat test of […]
Light Attack Competition: Air Force, McCain Tout Acquisition Experiment
CORRECTED: TACO GILBERT’S AFFILIATION HOLLOMAN AFB: It may be hard to believe but the future of the Air Force may depend on three turboprop planes and a $20 million spec-built attack jet. They are the entries in what the service calls the Light Attack Experiment, a back-to-the-future attempt to rekindle the sort of innovation and […]
Reaper Drones: The New Close Air Support Weapon
CORRECTS: Name and title of operations group commander CREECH AIR FORCE BASE: Over two days of briefings here by everyone from pilots to maintainers to the operations group commander of the 432nd Wing, one message rang out loud and clear: the Reaper has grown into a key Close Air Support (CAS) tool for the US military and […]