Rep. Randy Forbes (R-Va.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee’s seapower and projection forces panel, last week asked Air Force and Navy officials what the strategy is driving the development of the Defense Department’s AirSea Battle concept and other operational concepts. During the panel’s Oct. 10 hearing on ASB, Forbes said DOD had not issued an actual defense strategy since February 2011—although it did release defense strategic guidance in January 2012 outlining the Pentagon’s 10 primary mission areas. “How is the department designing and executing operational concepts such as AirSea Battle in the absence of an actual defense strategy?” asked Forbes, seeking clarity. “We’ve had a rough time getting our arms around that,” he said. In response, Maj. Gen. Michael Stough, the Joint Staff’s vice director of joint force development, said the Joint Chiefs view the 10 missions laid out in the 2012 guidance as driving force-development activities. “We’re talking about . . . the mission to defeat the anti-access, area-denial challenge,” said Stough of ASB, noting that it is foundational to DOD’s other missions. (For more hearing coverage, see Integrated Exercises Key to AirSea Battle Success.)
B-21 Temporary Shelters Could Also Shelter B-2s
March 5, 2021
The Air Force's experimental runway shelter for the new B-21 bomber is large enough to cover it or the B-2, and therefore reveals no information about the dimensions of the new aircraft. Two such shelters will be evaluated, but the maker of the second version hasn't been chosen, yet.