“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.”

Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson hopes that his LauncherOne airborne launch system’s capability to rapidly launch smallsats “will be a deterrent to an enemy state, that is to not attack satellites in the first place.”

If the US receives intelligence that Russia is prepping a strike against a US satellite, does SPACECOM task a drone or a B-21 bomber to take it out before it launches? Or does Gen. Raymond choose to simply maneuver the targeted satellite out of the way?

The absence of competition would remove cost pressure for both major contractors, which may be attractive for them but is unlikely to bode well for taxpayers.

“There is no other option at this point,” explains Todd Harrison, the director of the Aerospace Security Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). “The Air Force needs new tankers, and Boeing is the only one making them.”

“I believe we need the Space Force, in fact, in my opinion, a domain-specific service to organize, train, and equip space forces is overdue,” Air Force Secretary nominee Barbara Barrett said.

Phil Clay, a former Navy test pilot for the Imminent Fury/Combat Dragon close air support experiments, says the Air Force should purchase “at least a wing” (20 planes) of the Light-Attack Aircraft for SOCOM and the so-called foreign internal defense (FID) mission to combat insurgencies. 

The State Department’s approval of a $6.5 billion deal for F-35 jets comes as Warsaw continues to pull closer to the Trump Administration.

Senate Republicans and Democrats remain far apart on using DoD money for the border wall — so far that the government might not gets its 2020 budget on time,

“Kill webs,” not kill chains. Instead of exquisite platforms like the F-35 fighter, exquisite functional technology nodes (such as an advanced infrared sensor) that can be mixed and matched via AI-enhanced networks.