What it Takes

Unlike nearly every other innovative technology throughout history, Maj. Gen. DeAnna M. Burt believes the space enterprise emerged backward. “Every other domain started with an entrepreneur who built something,” Burt, the special assistant to the Chief of Space Operations, told an audience at AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference.

The U.S. and Russian militaries have operated in an uneasy coexistence in Syria since the Kremlin sent forces there in 2015 to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. But in recent months, Russian transport planes have flown near Al-Tanf Garrison in southeast Syria—where U.S. troops have been working with Syrian fighters…

A year ago, Air Force leaders were celebrating an unusually successful year in recruiting. For the first time in more than half a decade, the Air Force Recruiting Service was on pace to hit all of its goals—Active Duty, Reserve, Guard, and Space Force. Twelve months later, and the picture could…

Aiming to build a usable system throughout the experimental and prototyping phase of the Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile program led to Raytheon and Northrop Grumman’s win of the program, company officials told reporters. The partners have already invested in production capacity in 14 states, they said. The Raytheon-led team focused…

Despite inflation at levels not seen in decades, Air Force primes have yet to demand major adjustments to existing contracts, but there are concerns about lower-tier vendors, Air Force service acquisition executive Andrew P. Hunter said. Speaking with reporters at AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber conference, Hunter said the structure…

The Air Force has awarded Raytheon Missiles & Defense a $985.3 million cost-plus-fixed fee contract to develop and build the Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile, or HACM, an air-breathing cruise missile intended to launched from fighter-size aircraft. Raytheon bested teams led by Lockheed Martin and Boeing for the work.

The senior-most officers and enlisted members in the Air Force and Space Force and their spouses took part in a panel discussion at AFA's Air, Space & Cyber Conference. Each iterated a common theme: The well-being of Airmen, Guardians, and their families is tantamount.

With the Russian army pummeling Ukraine in Europe, and China increasingly threatening its neighbor Taiwan militarily in the Indo-Pacific, the Air National Guard has embraced the culture of can-do innovation at the core of agile combat employment.

In the closing session of AFA's Air, Space, & Cyber Conference, top generals in charge of the Air Force and Space Force future planning laid out their visions of the fundamental shifts of "space superiority" and the "democratization of air power" occurring in their domain.