Air Force

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley has released the Air Force's weapon system "roadmap," a long-term plan for providing Air Force capabilities the nation needs in the 21st century to meet threats to the nation's security.

Last month, there was a vigorous debate over a radical, and I believe ultimately misguided, proposal to disband the U.S. Air Force. The Army, however, seems to have its own solution: it's going to buy its own damned air force. Writing at Aviation Week's Ares blog, Bill Sweetman reports on Army plans to buy 540 armed drones:

rdinarily, an $8 million Air Force contract to build a new, prototype radar might not get much notice. But this radar system may be "capable of detecting underground facilities" from the air, and "even locating objects within such facilities," according to Inside the Air Force. "The announcement of this project comes at a time when there has been intense speculation about the United States' ability to strike potential Iranian nuclear facilities that may be buried deep underground."

The U.S. Air Force believes that its next generation fighter will not have a pilot on board. As is customary, development of the next generation fighter gets underway just as the latest ("fifth generation") F-22 is entering service. Thus, two years after the F-15 entered service in 1979, planning got under way to develop the F-22.

US Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) has announced the conduct of major war games under Vigilant Shield 2008 (VS-08). Vigilant Shield 2008 (15 to 20 October, 2007) is designed to deal with a "terrorist" or "natural disaster" scenario in the United States. The operation will be coordinated in a joint endeavor by the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security. Yet, VS-08, which includes a massive deployment of the US Air Force resembles a war-time air scenario rather than an anti-terrorist drill. The VS-08 war games extend over the entire North American shelf. Canadian territory is also involved through Canada's participation in NORAD. (See Nazemroaya, October 2007) These war games are being conducted at an important historical crossroads, amidst mounting US pressures and threats to actually declare a "real war" on Iran.

There's been a "radical change in U.S. policy when it comes to its cyber warfighting stance," according to Inside the Air Force. A few months back, Pentagon officials were saying that "the military had no plans to shift its cyber warfare focus from a defensive mindset to an offensive one." But now that the Air Force has declared themselves the service in charge of all things electronic, "high-ranking service officials say they are developing offensive strategies to attack enemies’ cyber assets."