The Predator drones that for a decade have been the weapons of choice of the U.S. military soon will be démodé. As the Pentagon prepares an ambitious “air-sea battle” plan to face well-armed adversaries in Asia or the Middle East, it is shopping for more sophisticated spy aircraft that can survive in hostile airspace and stay aloft for days without being detected.
After more than a decade of war, the Army wants to replace combat vehicles worn out from millions of miles in rugged terrain in Iraq and Afghanistan or blown up by roadside bombs.
The US Navy is upgrading its fleet of Boeing F/A-18E/F fighters with new capabilities, but analysts question the Super Hornet’s utility against emerging anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) threats.
Soon, the sound of combat may not be a thunderous boom but an electronic zap. The Office of Naval Research is in the early stages of putting a solid-state laser weapon onto a ship. If the project succeeds, it effectively will make all the sci-fi clichés about lasers — from death rays to “set phasers to stun” — a reality.
The Air Force rates the Air Force Reserve’s 911th Airlift Wing among the nation’s costliest for flying outdated C-130 cargo planes, but that hasn’t convinced Western Pennsylvania congressmen that closing the base would make financial or strategic sense/…/
Gen. Mark Welsh III is soft-spoken, but you want to hear every word he says.
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