The Air Force really needs about 558 F-22-like aircraft, but has only asked for 381 (and is approved for only 183) “purely because of affordability,” Air Combat Command chief Gen. John Corley told defense reporters March 27 in Washington, D.C. USAF long ago assessed that 381 “is the floor” of F-22s needed, and that number already counts the “acceptance of risk” by filling out the rest of the requirement with 177 old F-15s, called “Golden Eagles” (a nomenclature with a double entendre: They are “golden” in that they are in the relative best shape of the F-15Cs now flying and because they’ll be serving as frontline fighters well into their “golden” years). If he wasn’t constrained by funding, Corley said “of course” he’d get rid of his old iron and meet the strategic requirements placed on the Air Force by buying F-22s for the full requirement. However, 381 is the minimum “strategy-responsive force structure” of F-22s, he said.
DNI: Cyber Is The Common Weapon Among Top Adversaries
April 17, 2021
The top four U.S. adversaries—China, Russia, Iran and North Korea—are improving their military capabilities but relying increasingly on cyber means to challenge the U.S. and blunt its influence around the world, the intelligence community's annual threat assessment says. The report comes amid military tensions with both China and Russia.