“We’ve been socializing the idea both over at the White House and inside the Department,” Air Force acquisition czar Will Roper said about his push for a new initiative to explore “self-flying cars.”

Miitary lasers are getting more and more powerful, fast. But raw power isn’t all you need for a workable weapon.

WASHINGTON: The generals and admirals in charge of equipping and fielding the nation’s special operations forces are about to get some help in the form of an 11 percent budget increase. Just as the Trump administration has pledged to pump billions more into the defense budget, the Special Operations Command will also add about 1,700… Keep reading →

AFA ORLANDO: Air Force Special Operations Command doesn’t speak much in public, for obvious reasons. The commander pretty much appears once a year here to speak with reporters, and for the last three years, mounting lasers on AC-130 gunships  has been a top topic. The former AFSOC commander, Lt. Gen. Bradley Heithold, first announced the… Keep reading →

ORLANDO: More than a year since news broke that Air Force Special Operations Command planned to install and test lasers on its fabulously lethal AC-130 gunships, the plan now is to get its top unfunded requirement tested within a year. Lt. Gen. Brad Webb, head of AFSOC, told me that was now the plan. General Atomics and other… Keep reading →

UPDATED: Adds Air Force Statement  WASHINGTON: The administration’s nominee for Air Force Chief of Staff, Gen. David Goldfein, came before the Senate Armed Services Committee this morning promising to improve Air Force relations with Congress. And Goldfein delivered, to the point of apparently agreeing with a pleased SASC chairman John McCain that the service should… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: The Air Force wants to replace the aging but beloved A-10 “Warthog” with a robotic “flying coke machine” that loiters over the battlefield, dispensing firepower at the touch of a button, the outgoing Chief of Staff said this morning. (More on that concept below). Gen. Mark Welsh also wants a “sixth-generation fighter” that can… Keep reading →

CORRECTION: Multi-year contract three aircraft number restated WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – The Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) isn’t just wooing foreign customers for the V-22 Osprey. Deputy Program Manager Scott Hite revealed here Thursday that NAVAIR has also been talking to Air National Guard units about the tiltrotor transport as a search and rescue… Keep reading →

General Atomics, whose MQ-1 Predator changed the world, is to start testing another potentially revolutionary weapon next month: a 150-kilowatt class laser. Several other companies are developing laser weapons and “we’re looking at all of them,” said Lt. Gen. Bradley Heithold, head of Air Force Special Operations Command, in an interview with Breaking Defense. “The… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: Lt. Gen. Brad Heithold, the head of Air Force Special Operations Command, wants to make the AC-130 a kind of flying aircraft carrier, launching mini-drones mid-flight to scope out threats and targets. Oh, and he wants the AC-130 to have a laser cannon as well. Speaking to the Association of Old Crows’ annual conference on electronic… Keep reading →