Light Attack Competition: Air Force, McCain Tout Acquisition Experiment
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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… Keep reading →
Reaper Drones: The New Close Air Support Weapon
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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… Keep reading →
Air Force Drops First GPS Bomb From Reaper: GBU-38 JDAM
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CORRECTS: Attribution to Col. Joe UPDATED: 432 Wing Commander Wants GBU-54 Next CREECH AIR FORCE BASE: The Air Force has added the Joint Direct Attack Munition (GBU-38) a GPS-guided bomb, to the Reaper drone force, dropping the first one in a combat strike in Operation Inherent Resolve on Thursday. Lt. Col. David, director of… Keep reading →
Gen. Pawlikowski Unveils Key Air Force Planning Group: PCA, PEW, OA-X, MDC2!
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ORLANDO: A half-dozen people in the Air Force are helping to define the service’s as part of a major new approach to deciding what weapons to buy, known as Strategic Development Planning Experimentation. The effort is led by Gen. Ellen Pawlikowski, the commander of Air Force Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson AFB. The first iteration of SDPE (as… Keep reading →
Drones Do Excellent Urban Close Air Support; Mideast F-35A Deployment In Several Years
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WASHINGTON: If Congress was skeptical of bombers and fighters doing Close Air Support, how will they react to MQ-9s doing the toughest CAS mission around — taking out targets in the close confines of an urban fight? Gen. Hawk Carlisle, the soon-to-retire head of Air Combat Command, told reporters this morning that the Reaper is… Keep reading →
Army Races To Rebuild Short-Range Air Defense: New Lasers, Vehicles, Units
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ARLINGTON: As Russia and other adversaries stock up on drones, rockets, and missiles, the US Army is building up defenses to shoot them down. But that Short-Range Air Defense force has been devastated by a decade of cuts. The service’s plan to revive SHORAD involves deploying to Europe about 50 more of its current Avenger… Keep reading →
A Glimpse Of Warfare’s Future, Today
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WASHINGTON: Building seamless ties between US and allied forces is a dream long held and oft delayed. Allowing a friendly foreign commander to call in pinpoint US airstrikes simply, reliably and quickly with a phone is exactly the kind of military miracle science fiction and military visionaries have dreamt of since at least the late… Keep reading →
A-10 To Fly Til 2021; Plans To Buy More F-35As: Goldfein
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WASHINGTON: Congressional supporters can heave a sigh of relief with word from Air Force Chief of Staff David Goldfein that the ugly and effective A-10 will keep flying through 2021. But Goldfein seemed to make pretty clear that the plane will probably be retired after that because Close Air Support missions can be carried out by… Keep reading →
McCain’s 300 Low-End Fighters A ‘Great Idea:’ CSAF Gen. Goldfein
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WASHINGTON: A key part of Sen. John McCain’s alternative defense budget proposal is the rapid purchase of 300 “low-cost, light-attack fighters that would require minimal work to develop.” I asked Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein today what he thought of McCain’s proposal, contained in Restoring American Power. “Great idea,” he said, pointing… Keep reading →
No, Mr. Trump, You Can’t Replace F-35 With A ‘Comparable’ F-18
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President-Elect Trump’s recent announcement that he is considering acquiring the F/A-18 Super Hornet in place of the F-35 Lightning II does not add up for a leader who seeks “to make America great again.” Too much is at stake for the United States to rely on a fighter aircraft design whose roots extend back to… Keep reading →