Change is hard, losing is unacceptable, right? We don’t have a choice about this if we want to win.
January/February 2024
Vol. 107, No. 1
Frank Kendall ordered in September a sweeping review of five lines of effort across the department, seeking to uproot the impediments to current and future readiness.
He’s always got a mind on the future and making sure that the decisions we make today aren’t trapped in the environment of today.
Fast & Flexible Space
We’re trying to articulate a requirement to the Space Force that we need to be able to have sustained space maneuver.
Collaborative Combat Aircraft for Disruptive Air Warfare
The Mitchell Institute conducted a wargame and associated studies to assess how a family of uncrewed Collaborative Combat Aircraft could increase the lethality, survivability, and capacity of the Air Force’s air superiority forces for operations in highly contested environments.
Editorial: Re-Optimize Now
Having focused the services’ modernization efforts around seven Operational Imperatives designed to accelerate the injection of new capabilities into the force, Kendall is now setting his sights on organizational impediments to change.
Extending Endurance for Pacific Conflict
There is no real guidebook for aircrews on how to adjust their body clock and their circadian rhythm to perform on a different shift. Each individual is trying to navigate that on their own without guidance.
Strategy & Policy: A Critical Year for CCA Milestones
The CCA is envisioned as an uncrewed, relatively low-observable aircraft that can escort or coordinate with crewed aircraft, performing missions such as electronic warfare, defense suppression, as a communications node or as a flying extra magazine of weapons.
WORLD: Airpower
WORLD Airpower: Force Design 2050; AFFORGEN; New F-15EX fighters arrive.
WORLD: Space
WORLD: Space: Space Command reaches FOC; New Space Force Exercise, Red Skies; Space Planes most watched on orbit; SDA getting 18 more transport layer satellites.
WORLD: Weapons
WORLD: Weapons: Sentinel 37% Over Cost; USAF orders 1,500 SDBs; WC-135 Nuke Sniffer Upgrade.
WORLD: Safety
WORLD: Safety: Deadly Osprey Crash; B-1 crash at Ellsworth.
WORLD: People
WORLD: People: BAH rises 5.4%; CMSAF Bass concerned about Airmen's compensation; Kadena Maintainers win DOD honors.
Letters
We love letters! Write to us at letters@afa.org. To be published, letters should be timely, relevant and concise. Include your name and location. Letters may be edited for space and the editors have final say on which are published.
Faces of the Force
Tell us who you think we should highlight here. Write to airandspaceforces@afa.org.
Verbatim
A collection of quotes on airpower, space power, and national security issues.
AFA In Action: AFA’s Recruiting Task Force ‘Aims High’ in New Partnership with AFRS
AFA chartered its recruiting task force in 2023 to identify how AFA members and Chapters could support the Air Force Recruiting Service which has the smallest footprint among all the service branches.
AFA In Action: How Chapters Can Effectively Partner with Air Force, Space Force Bases and Organizations
What is common throughout the AFA chapter structure is the relentless pursuit of the AFA mission: to ADVOCATE, to EDUCATE, and to SUPPORT.
Heroes And Leaders: Ira C. Eaker
Eaker was an outstanding pilot. He had a degree in journalism, and he used that expertise to write and promote the cause of airpower.
