Budget cuts won’t make the Air Force give up any of its current missions, the service’s Chief of Staff promised today. But, Gen. Mark Welsh acknowledged, the cuts will force it to do those missions with different and perhaps not optimal aircraft. Yes, the famous A-10 “Warthog” is “the best at close air support” –… Keep reading →

ARLINGTON: As if Syria and sequestration weren’t complicated enough on their own, the combat training cutbacks required by the sequester are cutting into the military’s readiness to intervene, the Air Force Chief of Staff, Gen. Mark Welsh, told reporters this morning. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno has expressed similar concerns about his service’s… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: Where’s the strategic beef? That’s what Andrew Krepinevich wants to know. “When the administration came out with its strategic guidance [in] January, I thought the guidance made a lot of sense in terms of setting priorities,” the head of the influential Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments said this morning at the headquarters of… Keep reading →

ORLANDO: The United States has boosted into orbit new spy satellites that mark “the most significant change to our overhead architecture in at least three decades,” said the head of military intelligence, Mike Vickers. Vickers also said these National Reconnaissance Office’s satellites comprise “a truly integrated system of systems for the first time.” Sadly for… Keep reading →

The defense budget is going down…have you heard? The presidential campaign is shedding a lot of heat, but very little light on this reality; you won’t hear much of substance about how or where it will go down. Or much sensible or reasonable discussion about how we manage a defense build-down in a way that… Keep reading →

It may surprise many, but today’s Air Force cannot hold every contested target at risk, a fundamental strategic goal. Last week, Air Force Secretary Michael Donley and other senior leaders at the Air Force Association’s annual air and space conference made a clear and compelling case for long-range strike. The Air Force plans to fund… Keep reading →

Washington: Two respected taxpayer groups are calling for more than half-a-trillion in defense cuts. The Project for Government Oversight (POGO) and Taxpayers for Common Sense released a plan today targeting some $586 billion in what they call “wasteful defense and contractor spending over the next 10 years.” The two groups say the weapons systems they’ve… Keep reading →

Washington: America does not need a stealthy long-range bomber able to penetrate deep into remote, well-defended places, America’s No. 2 military officer said this morning. The country, Marine Gen. James “Hoss” Cartwright said, cannot afford to buy an upgraded nuclear triad of new bombers, new intercontinental ballistic missiles and new nuclear missile submarines. Cartwright, outgoing… Keep reading →