• Two aircraft were involved in a near miss near Washington's Ronald Reagan Airport last week.
• A Delta Air Lines plane and an Air Force jet came close to each other, an FAA incident report said.
• The near miss came two months after a collision close to the airport killed 67 people.

A Delta Air Lines flight and a US Air Force aircraft had a near miss near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, just two months after a midair collision near the same airport killed more than 60 people.

The incident occurred on Friday, March 28, at 3:16 p.m. when Delta Flight 2983, an Airbus A319, had just received takeoff clearance.

At the same time, four US Air Force T-38 Talons were inbound to Arlington National Cemetery for a flyover. The T-38 Talon is a two-seat supersonic jet used to train pilots.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the Delta pilot received an onboard alert that another aircraft was nearby. Air traffic controllers quickly issued corrective instructions to both planes, preventing a collision. The FAA has launched an investigation.

Flight tracking footage and audio communications, shared by VASAviation on YouTube, show just how close the two aircraft came. Both flights continued to their destinations without further incident.

"Nothing is more important than the safety of our customers and people. That's why the flight crew followed procedures to maneuver the aircraft as instructed," a Delta spokesperson told Business Insider.

The near-miss incident came almost exactly two months after an American Airlines flight collided with a Black Hawk helicopter close to the same airport, killing 67 people.

Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, located just outside Washington, DC, is home to the country's busiest runway, with over 800 takeoffs and landings per day.

The airport is the closest of three area airports to the city, about 3 miles south of the White House. Its proximity to Capitol Hill makes it a favorite of lawmakers.

Military helicopters also frequently fly low over the nearby Potomac River, transiting between military bases close by and the Pentagon, about a mile north of the airport.

Flying into and out of Reagan Airport, with short runways and such heavily restricted airspace nearby, is "like threading a needle," one pilot previously told Business Insider.

Following the January incident, Brian Alexander, a military helicopter pilot and a partner at the aviation accident law firm Kreindler & Kreindler, told BI that a shortage of air traffic controllers and increasing airspace congestion had affected safety.

"Our whole air traffic control system has been blinking red, screaming at us that we've got it overloaded," he said at the time.

More broadly, air traffic congestion has become a growing concern. According to a January report from the National Transportation Safety Board, there were more than 15,000 close calls between commercial airplanes and helicopters from October 2021 to December 2024.

• A Department of Defense memo on February 26 mandated that all content related to DEI be removed from DoD websites.
• Jessica Peterson, a flight test engineer with the Air Force for nearly 20 years, has seen her work removed.
• She says history shouldn't be removed and is concerned about future opportunities for women and minorities.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Jessica "STING" Peterson, a 42-year-old flight test engineer who has worked with the Air Force for nearly 20 years, first as a civil servant and later as a contractor. In February, Peterson found out that many articles highlighting her accomplishments or written by her would be removed following orders in a memo from the Office of the Secretary of Defense about the removal of content related to DEI from Department of Defense websites. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I've been a flight test engineer for nearly 20 years, and it's been amazing. We're the bridge between design engineers like Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman who are designing the system, and users — the warfighters and pilots — who will use the system.

When I very first started working for the Air Force 20 years ago as a college intern, I was the only woman on my team. Throughout my career, I've sometimes been the only woman in the room.

But to be honest, I usually don't even notice it. As I've gotten more experience and more credentials — like graduating from test pilot school, which is very hard to get into — my confidence has grown.

For most of my career, the gender divide hasn't been that big of a deal to me, which is one of the reasons that the removal of content about me has been so shocking.

In articles written about women, even if the focus wasn't on someone being a woman, there was often a side note about their gender and the things they had to overcome because it was unique, making them susceptible to now being removed.

It is un-American and incorrect to remove historical context; no history should be removed.

My daughter was devastated by my articles being removed

As test flight engineers, we collect data and evaluate the systems to make sure they're doing what they're supposed to. The exciting part is flying in airplanes; I've flown in over 40 different types of airplanes, including F-16s and T-38s, which are supersonic fighter aircraft, and C-12s, which are cargo planes.

I had friends in the public affairs office who warned me that several articles about and by me would be removed, such as one about a flyover by our female crew to send off the US women's soccer team to the FIFA Women's World Cup in 2023.

When I first found out, I honestly thought, Oh, that's a bummer. But I wasn't majorly upset; we already had the benefit of doing the outreach and getting kids excited about flying and about STEM.

When the articles started getting removed, it became more emotional. The straw that broke the camel's back was when I told my family, and my daughter was devastated.

I saw the impact that this will have on the next generation. It isn't just about removing the stories — it's about the message that it sends to the next generation of kids. I'm concerned that there will be fewer opportunities for them, especially females and minorities, in the future.

It's sad to see my factual articles being removed

It was unfortunate to see one of our factual articles about the testing of aircrew flight equipment that fits females removed. For years, women didn't have bladder relief systems while flying, so many were having medical issues and dealing with tactical dehydration from not drinking water.

I was so encouraged when there started to be a focus on getting these systems for women in the last four or five years. As an engineer, I want to solve problems. That was a problem we were trying to solve, and then the article was removed. It was sad.

When I first started flying about 10 years ago, I remember specifically asking for a female flight suit, and I was told no because they were more expensive. I didn't question it because I felt so happy and fortunate to get to fly.

I don't want any woman to have to deal with that in the future.

People have been so supportive

I decided it was important to let people know that this was happening, so I posted my experience on LinkedIn. The response I've gotten has been so positive.

Many previous coworkers, including male fighter pilots, have reached out to tell me how much they appreciate my contributions and how shocked they are about what's happening.

Last year, I took students from the aerospace engineering club of the University of Nevada, Reno, where I'm currently working on my Ph.D., on a tour to Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave desert to see how flight tests work. Several of those students have reached out to tell me how much they support me. That's been encouraging.

I've also had many Department of Defense civilians and military members reach out and express frustration and fear over what's happening. They feel they can't publicly speak out, and I fear there's been extensive damage to the morale and trust in the DoD workforce.

I feel hopeful that the content will be restored, but haven't seen it happen yet

With the recent statement from the DoD on the reassessment of archived content, I'm hopeful that all historical content will be restored, but I haven't seen any action yet. Within the last two weeks, two more news blurbs about our US women's soccer team flyover were deleted from other Air Force websites.

I want people to contact their representatives and say, "We should not be removing history. We should not be removing articles based on specific words that are in them."

I believe that the vast majority of the US population, independent of their political beliefs, thinks that censorship and removal of history aren't right but people just don't know it's already happening.

A Department of the Air Force spokesperson told BI: "In response to President Trump's Executive Orders and Secretary Hegseth's priorities, all Military Departments received guidance from the Department of Defense to review and remove DoD news and feature articles, photos, videos and social media posts that promote Diversity, Equity and Inclusion."

The spokesperson said that public affairs teams across the Department of the Air Force (DAF) used keywords to identify and remove content from service websites and social media accounts that did not align with the DoD memo's guidance, adding that part of the process involved consulting the DAF historian. The spokesperson did not specify which keywords were used to locate the content for removal but said that the review was based on the February 26 memo and that around 45,0000 pieces of content have been removed.

Regarding the March 21 statement that the DoD will be reevaluating content that was archived that should not have been, the spokesperson said: "We are not tracking the items that have been or are being restored. Our intent is to restore purely historical content after we review to make sure it complies with the guidelines."

Do you work in the federal government and have a story or tip? Contact this reporter via email at janezhang@businessinsider.com or Signal at janezhang.01. Use a personal email address and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely.

• Boeing won the $20 billion contract to develop the Air Force's sixth-gen stealth fighter, the F-47.
• The designation is a nod to the P-47 fighter, the USAF's founding year, and the 47th president.
• See the competing NGAD fighter designs proposed by Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman.

Boeing will develop the US Air Force's highly anticipated sixth-generation stealth fighter, poised to replace the F-22 Raptor and play a leading role in the Air Force's future fleet.

The sixth-generation combat aircraft is a central component of the Air Force's secretive and costly Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD), which seeks to fly the future fighter, designated the F-47, alongside autonomous drone wingmen known as Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA).

Though never officially confirmed, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman competed for the $20 billion contract. Northrop Grumman dropped out of the running in 2023, leaving Boeing to battle it out with Lockheed Martin's dominance of the stealth fighter force.

Boeing's successful bid

President Donald Trump announced on Friday that Boeing was selected to develop the future combat aircraft, which will be designated the F-47.

The designation is a deviation from typical naming conventions because it was previously used for the World War II-era fighter, the P-47.

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin said the designation is a nod to the P-47 escort fighter of World War II, as well as the Air Force's founding year in 1947 and the "pivotal" support of the 47th US President Donald Trump in developing the aircraft.

Winning the $20 billion NGAD contract will serve as a much-needed boost not only to its waning defense unit but also to recoup losses from the KC-46 tanker and new Air Force One aircraft.

Steve Parker, interim president, and chief executive of Boeing Defense, Space, and Security, said the company made "the most significant investment in the history of our defense business" after being tasked with designing, building, and delivering the sixth-generation fighter to the Air Force.

"We are ready to provide the most advanced and innovative NGAD aircraft needed to support the mission," Parker said in a statement.

The US Air Force's next-gen stealth plane

The pursuit for America's next-generation platforms began over a decade ago in the early 2010s.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency launched a study in 2014 to explore strategies to maintain the US' edge in air superiority. It found that simply developing sixth-generation combat aircraft wouldn't be enough to ensure air superiority against US adversaries, instead urging a "family of systems" across multiple domains, including air, space, and cyberspace.

Air superiority is the condition where a nation's aircraft can fly at minimal risk from other aircraft and surface-to-air missiles. The US's longtime edge in achieving this is increasingly threatened by the proliferation of air defense missiles and China's aircraft build-up, including two types of stealth fighters.

Building upon DARPA's findings, the Air Force launched its own study, Air Superiority 2030, which laid the groundwork for its NGAD program, which envisioned creating a future hybrid fleet of crewed and uncrewed aerial systems.

As one of the Air Force's most sensitive and highly classified programs, few details were publicly known about the NGAD program.

In September 2020, Will Roper, then-Air Force acquisition chief, officially confirmed that the service had test-flown a prototype of its next-gen fighter. This was the first public acknowledgment of the top-secret program that he said he hoped would garner "greater credibility" on the program's progress.

By 2023, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman appeared to be in the running to develop the NGAD platform, floating potential designs for it in promotional materials for their future projects — a common practice among US military aircraft manufacturers.

Northrop Grumman — the lead contractor for the B-2 Spirit and B-21 Raider stealth bombers — was also in the running to build the NGAD aircraft but dropped out of consideration as the prime developer in 2023, instead intending to support other bids as a supplier.

Early concept designs

Art renderings of the NGAD fighter show little more than the jet's sleek exterior and wings, revealing few details about the aircraft's final design.

But concept designs released by the three competing legacy combat aircraft contractors could give an idea of what the F-47 could look like when it takes to the skies.

In a promotional video released by Boeing Phantom Works in 2023, a brief rendering of a 3D model stealth plane showed assembling mid-flight to showcase the digital design capabilities to streamline the development of innovative aircraft.

The hypothetical stealth aircraft appears to feature a flat, tailless cranked wing design with two engines.

A fighter jet upset

Before Boeing was selected to build the F-47, Lockheed Martin had a monopoly on the Air Force's combat aircraft production, leading some to believe that it would be the prime contractor of the NGAD platform.

Following the fighter jet upset, Boeing's share price jumped 3% to $5.28 a share on Friday, adding $4 billion in market value. Meanwhile, Lockheed's stock dropped about 5.4% to $27.04 a share, an estimated $6 billion loss in market value.

"While disappointed with this outcome, we are confident we delivered a competitive solution," Lockheed Martin said in a statement.

Boeing has long been a major player in the military aerospace sector, including developing the F-15 and F/A-18 fighter jets and the KC-46 aerial tanker.

However, unlike competitors like Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, which secured domestic contracts for the F-22 Raptor and B-2 Spirit stealth aircraft respectively, Boeing's long-term defense production largely relies on foreign acquisition and international defense sales.

Boeing and Lockheed previously faced off to develop the fifth-generation multirole fighter as part of the Pentagon's Joint Strike Fighter program. Lockheed's X-35 beat out Boeing's X-32, entering production as the F-35 Lightning II.

Lockheed's NGAD design

Lockheed's hint at its potential NGAD concept proposal was a lot more subtle. In 2023, Lockheed's Skunk Works division posted a black-and-white aircraft outline on its Instagram to celebrate its 80th anniversary.

Despite the lack of details in the cryptic post, the planform appears to resemble a tactical aircraft design, likely related to the Air Force's NGAD program.

Lockheed further pointed to its potential future participation in the NGAD by releasing another promotional video later that year, seemingly referring to the Air Force's pursuit of a hybrid fleet. The video features crewed and uncrewed systems flying in formation, with Lockheed's F-35 surrounded by futuristic UAVs.

Northrop Grumman withdraws NGAD bid

Northrop Grumman was also competing to be the prime contractor behind the Air Force's NGAD aircraft. The company hinted at its interest in participating in the NGAD program in a 2021 promotional video that appeared to include a tailless stealth fighter in a hangar with historic and futuristic aircraft.

But Northrop Grumman's bid to build the NGAD fighter was cut short after it pulled out of consideration in 2023, CEO Kathy Warden announced.

Warden added that the company was "responding to other bidders' request for proposal as the supplier, that's particularly in our mission system portfolio."

Navy's next-gen fighter up for grabs

Northrop Grumman was selected to build the B-21 Raider, the Air Force's first sixth-generation stealth bomber, as part of the service's Long Range Strike Bomber program.

The company unveiled the stealth bomber in late 2022, and the aircraft took its maiden flight in November 2023.

Northrop Grumman is still in the running against Boeing to develop the Navy's next-generation fighter, the F/A-XX, which aims to replace the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.

Steep ambitions, steep price tag

The NGAD's steep ambitions to revolutionize the US air superiority mission come with an equally steep price tag. In 2018, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the NGAD airframe alone could cost up to $300 million each.

Then-Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said in 2023 that he anticipated the unit cost to be "too expensive to be purchased in large numbers," revealing the service's plan to team each NGAD with two CCAs.

From 2022 to 2024, Congress allocated $5.1 billion to develop NGAD-related technologies, which included a "strategic pause" in the program due to high project costs. In 2025, the Biden administration requested $2.75 billion to build an NGAD platform, which could skyrocket to an estimated $5.72 billion by 2029.

'China is a threat today'

Kendall emphasized the pressing need for the NGAD "family of systems" amid evolving threats by US adversaries, especially after the Pentagon truncated the procurement of F-22 jets from 750 to 187 in 2009.

"NGAD will include attributes such as enhanced lethality and the ability to survive, persist, interoperate, and adapt in the air domain, all within highly contested operational environments," Kendall said in May 2023. "No one does this better than the US Air Force, but we will lose that edge if we don't move forward now."

The urgency is also spurred in part by China's increasingly sophisticated long-range air defense and electronic warfare systems as China-Taiwan tensions contribute to growing militarization in the Indo-Pacific.

The F-47 is expected to operate closely with two new uncrewed fighters, so-called "loyal wingmen" that are capable of flying missions too dangerous for a pilot in the cockpit.

In a potential war scenario with China, defense analysts argued the F-22's limited range and payload capacity would be ill-suited for the terrain, consisting of islands spread hundreds of miles apart, leaving the fleet vulnerable to attack during refueling efforts.

"China is not a future threat; China is a threat today," Kendall said during a 2024 keynote address.

"I am not saying war in the Pacific is imminent or inevitable. It is not," he added. "But I am saying that the likelihood is increasing and will continue to do so."

• Boeing has been selected to build the US Air Force's sixth-gen fighter aircraft.
• The Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) fighter is expected to succeed the F-22 Raptor as the top air dominance fighter.
• President Trump said on Friday that the new aircraft will be known as the F-47.

The way forward for the US Air Force's mysterious sixth-generation fighter aircraft is clearer. The president revealed that it has a name, and Boeing Co. will build the new jet.

President Donald Trump announced at the White House on Friday that Boeing, a US aerospace giant, is being awarded a lucrative contract to build the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) fighter, which is set to succeed the stealth F-22 Raptor, the world's first fifth-generation fighter jet.

Trump, who was flanked by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, said the new aircraft will be known as the F-47, and hailed it as the most advanced, capable, and lethal aircraft "ever built."

"Nothing in the world comes even close to it," the president said in the Oval Office.

The NGAD is expected to succeed the Lockheed Martin-manufactured F-22, which entered service two decades ago, as the Air Force's top air superiority fighter and will be built to operate alongside drones.

The program is considered a "family of systems" and is expected to work with uncrewed Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) that function as semiautonomous "loyal wingmen" for the new aircraft.

The latest movement in the development of the NGAD fighter comes as the US military looks across the Pacific at China, which the Pentagon has identified as its "pacing challenge." Beijing's long-range air defenses and electronic warfare capabilities have advanced dramatically since the F-22 ended production. China's military has also fielded capable fifth-generation fighters and flown what seem to be sixth-gen fighter prototypes.

These developments by a top US military rival make the coming NGAD fighter, which top Air Force officials have said needs to be able to achieve air superiority and penetrate contested combat environments, critical.

The new fighter aircraft's exact design is unclear, but it will presumably include advanced stealth technology and other high-end sensors beyond the top capabilities of current fifth-gen aircraft.

Boeing's share price jumped while Lockheed's dropped as the NGAD news dropped on Friday.

Trump said an experimental version of the aircraft has secretly been flying for almost five years. He said the plane will have unprecedented speed, maneuverability, and payload capacity, as well as low observability.

"We're confident that it massively overpowers the capabilities of any other nation," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, adding that the new fighter aircraft will be equipped with "state-of-the-art stealth technologies," making it "virtually unseeable."

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin called the F-47 the "crown jewel" in the NGAD family of systems.

"This is allowing us to look into the future and unlock the magic that is human-machine teaming, and as we do that, we are going to write the next generation of modern aerial warfare," Allvin said in the Oval Office.

The Air Force paused the NGAD program last year to review its goals and requirements in depth. Service leaders under the Biden administration then decided to delegate decision-making to the incoming Trump officials. The president was recently briefed on the program.

In its 2025 budget proposal, the Air Force set almost $20 billion for the NGAD program.

Boeing and Lockheed previously competed for the US military's Joint Strike Fighter program, with Lockheed's X-35 edging out Boeing's X-32 for the contract. The fifth-generation F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter is in service with American and allied forces.

The Pentagon is set to announce its decision on a next-generation fighter jet contract initially worth more than $20 billion as soon as Friday, despite earlier concerns about budget constraints and shifting priorities, sources briefed on the plan said.

The Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program will replace Lockheed Martin's F-22 Raptor with a fighter built to battle alongside drones.

CONVICTED PENTAGON LEAKER JACK TEIXEIRA FACES COURT-MARTIAL WHILE ALREADY SERVING 15-YEAR SENTENCE

Lockheed and Boeing are competing head-to-head for the winner-take-all engineering and manufacturing development phase contract worth more than $20 billion.

An Air Force spokesperson and Boeing and Lockheed representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The winner of the high-stakes contest will receive hundreds of billions of dollars in orders over the contract's lifetime, underpinning their businesses for decades.

NGAD was conceived as a "family of systems" centered around a sixth-generation fighter jet that aims to provide the United States with advanced air dominance capabilities to counter near-peer adversaries like China and Russia.

Under President Donald Trump's administration, which took office in January, the program has moved forward after a period of uncertainty that cast doubt on the future of the next-generation fighter jet.

Last year, the program faced potential delays or scaling back due to budget pressures and cost overruns in other Air Force programs. There were also discussions about reconsidering fundamental design elements or shifting resources to unmanned drone programs.

The anticipated announcement signals designs that were finalized last year will be chosen for NGAD.

Boeing has suffered headwinds for both its commercial and defense businesses. A win would be a shot in the arm for its St. Louis, Missouri, fighter jet production businesses, while a loss would add to Boeing's woes.

Lockheed was recently eliminated from the competition to build the Navy's next-generation carrier-based stealth fighter. If it loses the NGAD contract, it will likely double down on its F-35 fighter jet program and international sales of its F-16 jets.

• The Air Force designated the first two uncrewed aircraft as fighter jets, the YFQ-42A and YFQ-44A.
• The prototypes were designed as part of the USAF's next-generation air dominance program.
• Dubbed "loyal wingmen," the combat aircraft are expected to bolster the Air Force's fleet.

The US Air Force marked two drone prototypes as fighter jets for the first time, ushering in a new era of military aviation.

General Atomics' XQ-67A combat drone was designated YFQ-42A, and Anduril Industries' aircraft was dubbed YFQ-44A. Y designates prototype, F for fighter, and Q means uncrewed, per USAF naming conventions.

Powered by jet engines, collaborative combat aircraft, as the Air Force calls them, were designed to fight alongside crewed F-22s and F-35s as " loyal wingmen" and carry out missions alone or in small groups.

The Air Force said they envision a single, crewed sixth-generation stealth fighter could control more drones using low-cost, less-sophisticated autonomous technology.

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin announced the historic designation in a keynote address at the Air Force Association Warfare Symposium earlier this week.

Though symbolic in nature, Allvin said granting the fighter designation to the two collaborative combat aircraft prototypes is "telling the world that we are leaning into a new chapter of aerial warfare."

Bolstering the US fleet with uncrewed fighters

The experimental autonomous weapon system was developed as part of the Air Force's Next-Generation Air Dominance program, its push to develop a sixth-generation fighter and create a hybrid crewed-autonomous fleet.

However, the ambitious next-gen initiative has been plagued by ballooning costs and development delays, raising concerns about the program's sustainability and prioritization within the Pentagon's budget.

The Air Force's fleet has shrunk over the last two decades to about 5,500 aircraft due to skyrocketing costs for developing and producing new aircraft. The service plans to buttress its existing airpower with CCAs, which would be cheaper to build and maintain.

Airmen could be trained more virtually so the crewed airframes would have fewer flight hours, and the aircraft's AI-driven software would bolster the fleet without risking human pilots.

The push to build the next-generation aircraft and aerial systems comes amid China's rapid build-up of its air force. Though China has less advanced systems compared to the US, the country is heavily investing in evolving its fleet and fortifying its airfields in the Indo-Pacific, threatening US airpower in the region.

A costly bid for next-gen aircraft

Former Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall previously said CCAs would cost a third of the price of crewed aircraft, estimating that one CCA would cost between $25-$30 million during a budget meeting with the House Appropriations Committee last April.

During a panel at the Air, Space & Cyber Conference last September, defense experts said CCAs could cost less than $1,200 per pound, whereas crewed fighters and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance aircraft typically cost between $4,000 and $6,000 per pound.

"That's how you get the affordability, at the same time that you get the survivability," Robert Winkler, vice president of corporate development and national security programs at Kratos Defense, said during the conference.

Winkler added that while the airframe itself is affordable, the same can't be said about the drone's "exquisite" sensors, radars, and electro-optical cameras.

"Obviously, you don't want to have these aircraft get out there and just get all shot down," Winkler said. "And obviously, you don't want them to be 'silver bullets,' where they cost so much that you can't afford to lose them, so there is a right balance."

The Air Force aims to acquire 1,000 CCAs to use two for each of 500 advanced fighters, requesting $557.1 million from Congress to continue researching and developing the CCAs.

Congress instead suggested cutting the CCA funds from the $3.3 billion budget allocated to its NGAD program in 2025 after a contract for its sixth-gen platform was paused, though a final decision on the CCA budget has yet to be made.

The Air Force awarded initial contracts to five defense contractors — Anduril, Boeing, General Atomics, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman — to design a CCA concept aircraft.

Last year, Anduril and General Atomics were selected to produce prototypes for the first developmental phase of the program.

The Air Force plans to order more than 100 drones in the next five years, though the service hasn't ruled out the other companies to develop CCAs in future phases of the program.

According to the Congressional Research Service, preliminary work has already begun for the second phase of the CCA as the Air Force explores working with domestic and international manufacturers to develop a more complicated platform that incorporates stealth technology.

Anduril's Fury

The Fury, a large uncrewed aircraft, was developed by Blue Force Technologies, a North Carolina-based aerospace company that was acquired by Anduril in September 2023.

Powered by a single turbofan engine, the Fury was designed to reach speeds of over 650 miles per hour and operate at altitudes of up to 50,000 feet. Pending the aircraft's loadout, it can also tolerate thrusts of up to nine times the force of gravity at a ceiling of around 20,000 feet.

The American defense technology company said it chose to invest in the Fury and turn it into a "high-performance, multi-mission" fighter recently designated as the YFQ-44A. Anduril also said it plans to integrate its Lattice system, an open software program that uses AI to integrate data from multiple sensors, to enable the drone for command and control.

General Atomics' XQ67-A

The CCA concept designed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems is based on its existing XQ-67A platform, which the company said focuses on "flexibility, affordability, and mission effectiveness. "

The XQ-67A primarily functions as an autonomous sensor platform with a modular design that can be adapted to each mission. The aircraft's specific dimensions have not been publicly disclosed, but its design resembles other combat uncrewed aerial vehicles, such as the MQ-25A Stingray and XQ-58A Valkyrie.

The YFQ-42A will be designed to "integrate seamlessly" with crewed jets, providing fighter capacity "at a lower cost and on a threat-relevant timeline," according to a company press release.

"These aircraft represent an unrivaled history of capable, dependable uncrewed platforms that meet the needs of America's warfighters and point the way to a significant new era for airpower," General Atomics said in a statement.

The Pentagon is urging transgender military personnel in the Air Force and Space Force to "separate voluntarily" by the end of the month, saying that individuals with gender dysphoria are "incompatible with the high mental and physical standards necessary for military service."

Troops have until March 26 to resign, according to a memorandum filed Sunday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia as part of Talbott v. Trump – one of the first lawsuits filed against President Donald Trump's executive order barring transgender troops from the military – by GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD Law) and the National Center for Lesbian Rights.

"Service members eligible for voluntary separation pay will be paid at a rate that is twice the amount for which the service member would have been eligible under involuntary separation pay," the memo, signed by Acting Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Manpower and Reserve Affairs Gwendolyn R. DeFilippi on March 1, states.

PENTAGON SAYS TRANSGENDER TROOPS ARE DISQUALIFIED FROM SERVICE WITHOUT AN EXEMPTION

Cross-sex hormone treatments will continue for service members who have a diagnosis of gender dysphoria that began prior to a separate memo issued last week until the "separation is complete" by direction of a Department of Defense medical provider "in order to prevent further complications."

However, transgender service members are required to adhere to conduct matching their biological sex, "effective immediately," including in showers, bathrooms and living quarters, until their withdrawal is completed. Physical dress and fitness standards must also match service members' biological sex, the memorandum states. 

Last week's internal Pentagon memo states that service members who are transgender or otherwise exhibit gender dysphoria are prohibited from military service unless they obtain an exemption. 

IOWA GOVERNOR SIGNS BILL REMOVING TRANSGENDER PROTECTIONS FROM CIVIL RIGHTS CODE

"The Air Force memo is consistent with this purge of highly accomplished, dedicated transgender service members," attorney Jennifer Levi of Glad Law told Fox News Digital in a statement Monday. "It is shameful. The memo also demonstrates the chaos and havoc being wreaked by this administration in ways that undermine our national security."

The Trump administration's transgender military ban is currently facing legal challenges, and the Justice Department filed a complaint against the presiding judge, Ana Reyes, accusing her of potential bias and misconduct. There are currently a handful of lawsuits specifically challenging Trump's gender-related executive orders.

HIDING KIDS' 'GENDER IDENTITY' FROM PARENTS IS COMMON IN BLUE STATE FIGHTING TRUMP ON TRANS ISSUES: WATCHDOG

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Department of Defense and White House for comment.

• Ukraine's missiles have kept Russian aircraft away from the battlefield.
• Russia has responded by battering Ukraine's defenses with glide bombs dropped farther away.
• Increasing glide-bomb production should be a critical priority for NATO.

One of the surprises of the Ukraine war has been the marginal role played by Russian airpower. Expectations that Russian fighters and bombers would blast a path for the ground troops — as US airpower did in Desert Storm — were disappointed. Instead, Ukrainian anti-aircraft missiles have kept Russia's air force at bay.

But Russia has hit on a way for its air force — known as the VKS — to make a difference while staying away from the battlefield — massive glide bombing. And that approach seems to be successful enough that a British think tank is calling for NATO air forces to be ready to do the same.

"Glide bombs gave the VKS teeth without the need to first achieve air superiority or gain the ability to penetrate Ukrainian airspace," wrote analysts Jack Watling and Nick Reynolds in a report for the Royal United Services Institute, a British think tank.

Ironically, Russia's airpower woes have become NATO's worries. Since 1941, the warfighting concept of America, Britain and other Western nations has been to maintain relatively small armies backed by copious amounts of airpower. The concept eventually worked in World War II. It might have worked in the Cold War to repel a massive Soviet ground invasion of Europe.

But the air war over Ukraine raises doubts about this approach. If Ukrainian S-300 and Patriot anti-aircraft missiles can destroy Russian planes, then couldn't Russian missiles do the same to NATO planes? Ukraine claims 369 Russian warplanes have been shot down as of February 2025, with most claimed by missiles rather than Ukraine's small fleet of fighter jets.

That's why Western experts are paying close attention to how Russia has managed to make its air force relevant to the ground war. Much like the Russian war machine in general, the Russian air force is now emphasizing brute-force tactics that rely on massive amounts of bombs rather than accuracy. Instead of running the gauntlet of Ukrainian air defenses as they drop their bombs, Russian jets safely orbit up to 60 miles behind the Russian front line — out of range of Ukrainian long-range surface-to-air missiles — and lob glide bombs. These are low-budget guided weapons that mate a conventional iron bomb with a satellite-guidance system, and aerodynamic fins to control the bomb's trajectory.

Russian UPMK glide bombs lack in accuracy compared to their Western counterparts such as the US Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM). But Russia doesn't care. The giant FAB-1500 — a 1.5-ton glide bomb — or the 3.4-ton FAB-5000 have such a large blast radius that even a near miss will destroy Ukrainian trenches and bunkers. It's the same sort of approach long practiced by Russian artillery: saturation bombardment to pulverize enemy defenses and rattle soldiers inside before the assault troops go in.

Ukrainian troops have yet to find an effective defense against glide bombs; moving air defenses forward to fire at a launch aircraft also risks systems like Patriot that are in short supply. Instead, "they have been pushed to completely avoid observation of their positions, to disperse or seek concealment underground, and to rely on uncrewed or autonomous systems to keep and kill the enemy at arm's length," Watling and Reynolds wrote.

The Ukraine war has shown the biggest shortcoming of precision-guided munitions: they are so expensive that nations only procure small numbers, which are quickly depleted during a long war. Because glide bombs use cheap components — old-fashioned iron bombs and inexpensive navigation systems — Russia can easily mass produce them. "The rise in UMPK glide bomb production from 40,000 units in 2024 to 70,000 units anticipated in 2025, has significantly increased the number of Ukrainian troops killed during defensive operations," RUSI noted.

RUSI recommends that NATO increase its stockpiles and manufacturing capacity for stand-off weapons like JDAMs and the Joint Standoff Weapon made by Raytheon (JDAM bombs cost around $20,000 each). In addition, NATO air forces need more long-range air-to-air missiles: Russian fighters have had success in suppressing Ukrainian airpower by using long-range missiles such as the R-77-1, with a range of more than 62 miles.

Given the ferocious consumption of munitions seen in Ukraine, procuring mass quantities is only viable if the price is right. "Increasing stockpiles and the capacity to produce long-range air-to-air munitions and stand-off strike weapons at as low a cost as possible should be critical priorities for the force," RUSI argued.

The Ukraine war offers one bit of consolation for NATO. The fact that Russia had restored some effectiveness to air force suggests that NATO's emphasis on airpower is still relevant. "The disproportionate impact of the VKS, despite the generally poor performance of Russian airpower, validates the importance placed on air power across NATO," RUSI concluded.

Michael Peck is a defense writer whose work has appeared in Forbes, Defense News, Foreign Policy magazine, and other publications. He holds an MA in political science from Rutgers Univ. Follow him on Twitter and LinkedIn.

• The US Air Force's director of force design said America can't win through long-range strikes alone.
• He said the Air Force wants to emphasize more long-range strikes but cannot rely on them too heavily.
• US air power would need both tempo and mass to win a war, he said.

The US Air Force relying on a "massive punch" from afar would be a war-losing mistake, said its general in charge of shaping the service's future capabilities.

"What we have found, if you go to an all-long-range force, it doesn't win," Maj. Gen. Joseph Kunkel said at a Hudson Institute event on Wednesday.

He was answering a question about whether the Air Force will start to heavily or completely emphasize long-range strikes.

"I mean, it sounds wonderful, doesn't it?" Kunkel said, who also oversees the Air Force's war game simulations. "You sit in Topeka, Kansas. You press a red button. The war gets fought. Nobody gets hurt. It's all done at long-range."

But Kunkel said the strategy doesn't work because the Air Force loses tempo when fighting that way.

"They're absolutely game-changing," he said of striking from long range. "They're going to help us out. They're going to be able to deliver a massive punch to the adversary."

"But they're probably not going to do it at the tempo that's required to keep the adversary on its knees all the time," Kunkel continued.

He said that to win wars, the Air Force still needs to be able to get close and strike frequently.

"You need something else. You need something inside. You need something inside that can generate tempo. Tempo and mass," the general said.

To that end, Kunkel said the Air Force would transition to include more long-range attack methods but still rely on combined arms — a mix of different capabilities.

The Air Force has repeatedly signaled that it's trying to bolster its long-range strike capabilities, especially as the Pentagon worries about open conflict with China.

In January, for example, then-Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said the force might have too few options to attack from afar.

The new B-21 Raider Bomber unveiled in 2022 is a central piece of the Air Force's long-range capabilities, and Kendall hinted that it needed more than its planned fleet of 100 aircraft.

"The Air Force is very heavily dependent on relatively short-range aircraft: fighters. And has a relatively small inventory of longer-range strike platforms: bombers," Kendall said. "I think that balance needs to shift."

Still, Kunkel said explicitly on Wednesday that the Air Force wouldn't rely solely on long-range strikes.

"I will adamantly say we are not transitioning to this all long-range force because, alone, that just doesn't work. We will transition to elements of a long-range force," he said.

The two-star general also said that the Air Force needs to start tailoring its capabilities to meet specific threats and that simply making new fighter jets will not win wars for the US.

"When we do the analysis, what we find is just reinventing the Air Force doesn't win," Kunkel said.

The Pentagon's press department did not respond to an additional request for comment for Kunkel sent by Business Insider outside regular business hours.

Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Sean Duffy announced Thursday his plan to "supercharge" the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)'s air traffic controllers after numerous fatal plane crashes over the last two months.

The FAA will be "streamlining" its eight-step hiring process into a five-step process, with hopes it will accelerate the time to hire for "critical positions," according to Duffy, who shared the announcement in a post on X.

The protocol change will shave more than four months off the old process, he said.

In addition, the agency will be "raising starting salaries by nearly 30%" for those in training as an incentive to apply.

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"We want the best and brightest to get expedited entry into the academy," Duffy wrote in the post. "This administration is committed to solving the air traffic control shortage that has existed for too long."

The FAA imposes a mandatory retirement age of 55 for air traffic controllers, contributing to a high turnover rate, Fox News Digital previously reported. 

Duffy noted the FAA's training academy also slowed during COVID-19, with small class sizes delaying the process.

While more than 50,000 people work at the FAA, President Donald Trump announced recent cuts that will trim 300 non-critical workers from the force.

Duffy's new policy comes after numerous aviation disasters in the U.S. over the past few months, including the midair collision of an Army Black Hawk helicopter with a commercial passenger plane in Washington, D.C., which claimed the lives of all 67 people aboard the two aircraft.

Just days after the D.C. crash, which was the country's deadliest aviation mishap in more than 20 years, a medevac plane plummeted into a Philadelphia street, killing all six on board and one person on the ground.

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More disasters followed, with an Alaska crash killing 10 and an Arizona crash killing one.

In neighboring Canada, 21 people were injured when a Delta plane erupted in flames after overturning during a crash landing at Toronto’s Pearson Airport on Feb. 17.

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Still, the DOT continues to push the message that "flying remains the safest way to travel."

Duffy said he is "committed to restoring the FAA’s mission to safety" and hopes "more great candidates" will join the agency.

Fox News Digital's Anders Hagstrom and Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.

• The FAA announced its first round of 2025 air traffic controller hiring on Thursday.
• The job is high-stress with challenges like fatigue, but the average annual salary is six figures.
• Controllers must undergo rigorous training and testing and retire at 56.

The Trump Administration has a plan to increase air traffic control staffing: faster hiring and more money.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Thursday that the Federal Aviation Administration has accelerated hiring to cut more than four months off the timeline.

Candidates who attend the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City will earn 30% more. The agency said the average controller salary is now $160,000.

The Federal Aviation Administration reopened its hiring window, with applications accepted until March 17.

Being an air traffic controller is an extremely high-stress job. The over 14,000 workers nationwide are responsible for moving tens of thousands of lives on board planes across the country every day.

Pressure on the FAA to hire controllers more quickly comes amid heightened attention on air safety following a string of crashes. A deadly American Airlines midair collision in January highlighted potential lapses in US air traffic systems.

The agency has been battling a controller shortage for years. CNN reported in May 2024 that the FAA was about 3,000 controllers short, though it met its 2024 hiring goal of 1,800 and plans to hire another 2,000 this year.

Business Insider spoke with FAA controller Cedrick Earley to discuss what it is like to work the job. Here are nine things you should know before applying to become an air traffic controller.

You don't need a college degree to work in ATC

ATC is a good option for people looking for a high-salary job that doesn't require a college degree.

According to Thursday's job posting, an eligible applicant must:

• Be a US citizen
• Speak clear and fluent English
• Be under the age of 31 before the application closing date (more on that later)
• Have one year of full-time work experience or higher education, or a combination of both
• Meet specific physical and mental fitness standards

Successful applicants who apply through the FAA must undergo months of extensive training and pass mandatory tests, such as an aptitude test, a skills assessment, and physical and psychological exams, before being officially hired.

The applicants will spend up to five months at the academy, where training and testing will occur. However, some applicants come from other careers, like the military.

Earley said he went through the Air Force to become a controller instead of going through the FAA.

"[Air Force] is a different track," he said. "The quality of training you receive from the Air Force is equivalent to what you would get if you went through the route with the FAA in Oklahoma."

You have to be younger than 31 when you apply

According to the FAA, all ATC applicants must be 30 or younger on the closing date of the application period to qualify for the position.

This is because the agency has determined through extensive research that the older someone is, the harder it is for them to complete the rigorous training.

However, according to the agency, those who already have air traffic control experience can be hired up to 35 years of age. 

You have to go through a lot of testing and training

Whether you become a controller through the FAA or the military, you will have to undergo monthslong training and pass aptitude, physical, physiological, and skill tests. These exams assess applicants' health, and their ability to train for and perform the job.

Initial tests are pass/fail, according to the agency, and failing certain exams will eliminate applicants from the hiring process.

The training is demanding, with about 50% of aspiring Air Force controllers failing out.

You won't necessarily work in a tower

Earley said traffic controllers are not just confined to the airport tower but can also work in the several hundred facilities around and between airports nationwide.

For example, one may work in the Terminal Radar Approach Control Facility, or TRACON, in Memphis and be responsible for controlling aircraft leaving the airport for their next destination and directing flights into the airport for a quick and safe landing. 

Employees can also work in one of the air route traffic control centers, or ARTCCs, throughout the US, which direct aircraft en route to their destinations.

The work can be high-stress and sometimes boring

Being an air traffic controller can be stressful due to the heavy workload and high-consequence environment. However, depending on how busy the skies are, the job can also be dull and boring.

Former air traffic controller Michele Robson wrote in 2020 that the job can be quiet at night, but controllers must always be alert and ready to work at any hour on shift.

While some controllers find the job extremely stressful, Earley said that isn't the case for him because he enjoys the "challenge of coming in every day to a new puzzle." However, he admitted that that work keeps him on his toes.

"Controllers are always learning on the job, like updating and refining the processes or learning new rules and procedures," he explained. "It is a job where you always have to change and adapt." 

Safety is the top priority

Air traffic controllers are responsible for about 50,000 daily flights in the US, so safety is the most important aspect of the job.

An increasing number of planes colliding or nearly colliding has further enhanced FAA training and system improvements across airports and ATC facilities.

According to Earley, there are several things controllers do to ensure nothing is missed.

"I work in front of a radar scope, and it can get busy at times, so I am not supposed to work in position more than two hours at a time, so we get a break to keep us refreshed," he said. "We also do not work more than 10 hours in one day, and there is a certain amount of hours we have to be off before we can work again."

The FAA implemented new rules in 2024 to minimize controller fatigue by raising the minimum rest time between shifts from at least nine hours to at least 10 hours. Controllers also get 12 hours off before and after midnight shifts.

Earley also explained that there are redundancies in the job to elevate safety and that other controllers and supervisors help check each other's work.

"Everyone is actually able to see what is going on with any particular person's work at the time, so it is one team, one fight," he said. "If we notice something is a little out of sorts, we can bring that to the controller's attention, and they can fix it before it becomes a bigger problem."

The salary is good, but the work schedule can be inconsistent

Earley explained the job's salary, which increases with seniority, plus the benefits provide a good work-life balance.

"It's a job that pays me well and allows me to support my family," he said. "I'm also able to take leisure time for myself, like spending time with my daughter."

However, he also said his schedule is not the regular 9-5.

"I do have some shifts I work from midnight to 8 a.m., as well as some scattered 12-8 shifts, so it rotates," he said. "I always know what my hours are each day, but it is not always at the same time. It is consistently inconsistent."

You know your schedule for the entire year

According to Earley, air traffic controllers know their work schedule a year in advance.

"When we set our schedules up, we bid what we want for the next year, and then we are awarded our full schedule for the year," he said. "It helps in terms of planning our leave."

He also explained that the schedule is only for one year, and controllers can change it the following year.

You can retire at 56

All air traffic controllers must retire at 56 due to the higher possibility of memory or hearing loss, inattentiveness, or reduced eyesight in older individuals.

However, Earley said the 56 age cut-off only applies to those actively working traffic, so controllers who are not yet ready to retire can take a desk or management job instead.

U.S. and Canadian air force members conducted joint military drills in Greenland in practice for action under bitterly cold conditions.

Operation Noble Defender took place from Jan. 28 through Feb. 11 at Pituffick Air Force Base, the U.S. military's northernmost installation, according to NORAD. The roughly 100 total service members had to operate in temperatures that were regularly below 0 degrees Fahrenheit, sometimes dropping as low as -28 degrees.

"Over the last three weeks, our integrated American and Canadian NORAD teams have demonstrated the ability to operate at the highest level in one of the most austere environments in the world," Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Shemo said in a statement.

"I am immensely proud of them and their dedication to this mission and appreciate the close cooperation from the Kingdom of Denmark as we train for the defense of Canada and the United States across all domains," he added.

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The joint military exercise comes weeks after President Donald Trump pushed the idea of the U.S. purchasing Greenland, an idea that has been rebuffed by Denmark, its current owner.

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Trump has signaled interest in acquiring Greenland since 2019, calling it a potentially "large real estate deal," toward the end of his first term. In December, he ramped up calls for the U.S. to acquire the Danish territory and called it a national security issue.

"[F]or purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity," the then-president-elect wrote in a Truth Social post at the time.

At the beginning of February, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen affirmed that Greenland is "not for sale," but said she was open to the U.S. increasing its footprint in the Arctic region.

"I totally agree with the Americans that the High North, that the Arctic region is becoming more and more important when we are talking about defense and security and deterrence," Frederiksen said, referencing Chinese and Russian activity in the region. "And it is possible to find a way to ensure stronger footprints in Greenland. They [the U.S.] are already there, and they can have more possibilities."

• Radically reinventing the Air Force won't win a future fight, its director for force design said.
• The Air Force has been analyzing and wargaming what it'll need to defeat a top adversary.
• The service is now prioritizing how to tailor systems for countering very specific threats.

New fighter jets or bombers won't be enough to win the next war, the US Air Force director for force design, integration, and wargaming said this week.

Instead, the service needs to focus on what specific threats top adversaries like China or Russia pose to Air Force operations to tailor solutions for defeating them.

At a Hudson Institute event on Wednesday, Maj. Gen. Joseph Kunkel, who oversees force design for the Air Force, talked about how the service is evolving its capabilities and strategies at what other leaders have described as a critical time.

Kunkel said that the Air Force has been on a decade-long journey to redesign and reinvent. That conversation started like this: "We probably just need to look at new fighters. We've always had fighters, so let's look at new fighters, and we've always had bombers, so let's look at new bombers."

The US military has fielded new fighters, such as the Boeing F-15EX Eagle II and the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter, and new bombers, like the Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider.

But just upgrading to next-generation aircraft isn't enough to prepare the US Air Force and larger Joint Force for future warfare. "When we do the analysis," Kunkel said, "what we find is just reinventing the Air Force doesn't win."

Instead, he said, combat success is more about integrating capabilities and systems together, using autonomy and all-domain sensing, for example. "Those are things that we're finding as game-changers," Kunkel said, because they address specific challenges to the force.

The problems facing the Air Force in a future fight could look similar to the fight in Ukraine today, where the skies are contested, with neither side being able to secure air superiority like what the US and its allies enjoyed in the Middle East.

American adversaries are fielding their own next-gen fighters, and air and missile defense systems are becoming increasingly sophisticated, demanding more from pilots. And there are also growing missile threats, both in Europe and the Indo-Pacific, to bases the service relies on to conduct air operations.

One of the Air Force's priorities in recent years has been Agile Combat Employment, which aims to boost survivability by having air assets operate from unconventional runways and outposts, thus complicating enemy targeting of US aircraft. Bases are fixed, but American adversaries can't target every piece of concrete, every road and highway.

ACE has been a major focus as China has been building an intimidating missile force that could overwhelm US airfields and airpower in a missile strike. The Air Force is now building on this thinking, looking to ideas that go beyond new aircraft.

Kunkel said the Air Force's focus is on something it hadn't really done before: tailoring attributes for capabilities based on the threat. The first step, he said, is to define the threat and how it's impacting US Air Force operations.

When the Air Force understands how potential enemies can pressure both air and ground missions, then it can determine what capabilities it needs to counter specific threats and deliver more than just an upgraded aircraft. Instead, it brings a targeted response.

The Air Force has faced tough questions about generating readiness and maintaining overmatch in a time of great-power competition. And last year, the service announced widespread changes in its focuses, more specifically in how it trains its airmen and develops capabilities needed for various threats.

At the time, then-Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said the service was "moving forward with a sense of urgency to ensure we are ready to deter and, if necessary, win."

• The US Space Force's secret space plane, the X-37B, shared an image from orbit for the first time.
• The reusable orbital test vehicle captured the image of Earth last year during its seventh mission.
• In orbit since 2023, the test shuttle has practiced maneuvers to change orbit.

The US Space Force released an image Thursday that was taken by its top-secret space plane for the first time since launching on its seventh mission in late 2023.

While conducting experiments in a "highly elliptical orbit," the X-37B orbital test vehicle captured a rare image of Earth from high above the African continent.

Since launching on its seventh mission in late 2023, the orbital test vehicle has been experimenting with future space domain technologies and practicing "first-of-its-kind" maneuvers to adjust its position in orbit with minimal fuel, according to the US Space Force.

Little is known about the X-37B's missions, which have taken place as concerns grow that the US military's satellite network is under increasing threat.

'Most advanced re-entry spacecraft'

In 1999, NASA selected Boeing to design a reusable orbital test vehicle to monitor and repair satellites closely.

Over the next four years, the X-37 underwent several design iterations to achieve a more aerodynamic design than the Space Shuttle orbiter. It was initially intended to launch from the cargo bay of a space shuttle. But after the Space Shuttle Columbia crashed and killed all seven astronauts on board in 2003, it was redesigned to launch from a different rocket, making it smaller and more autonomous.

The project cost nearly $192 million, and Boeing was awarded another $301 million contract in 2002 through the Space Launch Initiative, a joint research effort led by NASA and the Defense Department. The X-37 project was transferred to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in 2004 and became classified because of its military applications.

In 2006, the Air Force announced the development of its own variant of the space plane, known as the X-37B, designed to operate with an orbital speed of nearly 17,500 mph for up to 270 days.

The uncrewed test vehicle was nearly 30 feet long and had a wingspan of about 15 feet. Its max takeoff weight was 11,000 pounds, and it could accommodate payloads of up to 500 pounds.

Dubbed the "most advanced re-entry spacecraft," the X-37B program would focus on "risk reduction, experimentation, and operational concept development for reusable space vehicle technologies, in support of long-term developmental space objectives," then-Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne said in 2006.

Experimenting in space

The X-37B was tasked with multiple orbital missions, ranging from testing materials under the conditions of space to releasing a small satellite with its own experimental payloads.

The first X-37B vehicle was launched into orbit from Cape Canaveral in April 2010. The test vehicle spent 225 days in space and returned in December 2010 after conducting several orbit changes, though the data it collected during its maiden mission was classified.

In 2020, the X-37B's sixth mission involved toting a small service module into space for the first time. The FalconSat-8 was a small satellite developed by the US Air Force Academy carrying five experimental payloads. After a record-breaking 908 days in space, the X-37B completed its mission and landed at the Kennedy Space Center in November 2022.

Because much of the X-37B program is classified, the secrecy fueled speculation about the purpose of its mission sets, with some speculating that the space plane could be a weapons platform or used for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance from space.

Launched from a SpaceX rocket

The X-37B embarked on its seventh and current mission in December 2023, launching from the Falcon Heavy rocket, manufactured and launched by Elon Musk's SpaceX.

The Falcon Heavy is capable of launching payloads over 22,000 feet above Earth, so the X-37B was launched higher than any other spaceplane and flew in a highly elliptical orbit.

The purpose of its seventh mission was to experiment with "future space domain awareness technologies" and analyze the radiation effects on plant seeds during spaceflight, according to the Space Force.

Another key objective of the X-37B's current mission is to refine and execute novel maneuvers called aerobraking, using the drag of Earth's atmosphere to quickly shift into low orbit and safely dispose of service module components using minimal fuel. Changing orbit is a crucial capability should the spaceplane be used to upgrade US satellites or disable those of its adversaries.

Shrouded in secrecy

Though the image taken by its onboard camera shows just a small portion of the X-37B, few photos of the vehicle itself are available to the public.

A video montage posted on X in 2023 included a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment of the X-37B separating from its service module during its sixth mission in 2020. The US military and Boeing also released the first photos from the same mission after it was completed in 2022.

Watch Falcon Heavy launch the USSF-52 mission to orbit https://t.co/zrk4JcZ9Pt

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) December 29, 2023

The US' X-37B vs. China's Shenlong

The X-37B is known for conducting tests and scientific experiments in space, but details about its military applications remain highly classified.

Operating space-based technology for decades, including the X-37B, has given the US an edge on the new frontier of orbital warfare. China follows closely behind the US with its own spacecraft known as the Shenlong, named after a dragon god in Chinese mythology.

Like the X-37B, much about the aircraft is still shrouded in mystery. The Shenlong was first announced in 2007, but China has publicly disclosed few details about the top-secret space plane program. There are no known images of the Shenlong, and among the few capabilities that are known about the unmanned vehicle is that it can deploy via a rocket, quickly maneuver in space, and deploy payloads into space, much like the X-37B.

During its first orbital flight in September 2020, the Shenlong remained in space for two days to release an object into orbit before returning to Earth.

Its second launch in August 2022 lasted considerably longer, operating in orbit for nine months. The Chinese spaceplane was reportedly practicing maneuvers to deploy and recover a subsatellite, operations that require similar techniques to capture an enemy satellite.

In December 2023, the Shenlong's third mission, which began just seven months after the second, reportedly had a similar objective, releasing an object from its cargo hold to test proximity operations. It completed its mission after nine months in space, returning to China this past September.

• A salvaged F-35 fighter made from two wrecked aircraft is set to return to the US Air Force's fleet.
• The restoration began in 2023. The jet took its maiden flight in January less than two years later.
• The "Franken-bird" cost about $6 million to repair, whereas a new F-35 costs over $80 million.

A one-of-a-kind F-35 stealth fighter built from two wrecked aircraft is set to make an unprecedented return to the US Air Force's operational fleet.

The so-called "Franken-bird" was restored through a collaboration between airmen from the 388th Fighter Wing at Hill Air Force Base in Utah, the F-35A Lightning II Joint Program Office, and Lockheed Martin.

The F-35 JPO first assessed the feasibility of the restoration project in January 2020, and work on a pieced-together stealth fighter began in late 2023 at the Ogden Air Logistics Complex.

"All of the aircraft sections can be de-mated and re-mated theoretically, but it's just never been done before," Scott Taylor, Lockheed Martin's lead mechanical engineer on the project, said in a press release announcing the project in 2023. "This is the first F-35 'Frankin-bird' to date. This is history."

Less than two years later, the "Franken-bird" jet made its maiden flight on January 16. Following the successful functional check flight, the salvaged F-35 is set to undergo final tests and work before returning to combat status.

Scrap to salvage

In 2014, an F-35, tail number AF-27, was severely damaged at the Eglin Air Force Base in Florida after an engine fire burned the rear two-thirds of the aircraft. The cost of damage was estimated to be over $50 million, according to the Air Education and Training Command. The airframe was recycled as a damage and repair trainer for maintenance crews

In 2020, a landing gear malfunction caused an F-35, tail number AF-211, to crash, severely damaging its nose. The damaged airframe and its engine were preserved at Hill Air Force Base in Utah since the landing gear collapse.

Dave Myers, the lead engineer at the F-35 Joint Program Office Lightning Support Team, told Air & Space Forces Magazine that there was "no degradation" to the airframes, so splicing them together into the "Franken-bird" wouldn't impact its capabilities.

The first 'Franken-bird'

Hangared in the 4th Fighter Generation Squadron, maintainers created unique tools and equipment to support and join the nose section of the AF-27 and the rear section of the AF-211 since it was the first attempt at the ambitious repair job.

"When we received the aircraft, it was pretty much a shell," Senior Airman Jaguar Arnold, the aircraft's crew chief from the 4th FGS, said in a statement released last month. "There were a lot of tasks to complete that we hadn't done before at the unit level."

The repair process also incorporated some technical updates and new components, including reinforcement structures on its outer shell. Technicians reinstalled the landing gear, rewired the avionics systems, and rebuilt the cockpit.

"The F-35 program is still young compared to all legacy airframes," Myers said. "We are doing this for the first time, and organizationally for the future, we are creating a process we can move forward with."

A $6 million refurbished aircraft

The resounding success of the F-35 restoration efforts provided valuable technical experience for maintainers to improve installation and inspection processes.

"When we took responsibility for this project, we were taking on something unprecedented at the field level, and it wasn't easy," 1st Lt. Ryan Bare, Sortie Generation Flight commander for the 4th FGS, said. "That can't be overstated."

"But we were also taking on an opportunity for our maintainers to gain proficiency in this type of work and build experience at the unit level," Bare added. "As a program, and as a unit, we've benefited greatly from this."

The "Franken-bird" also had the added benefit of growing the Air Force's operational fleet — at a fraction of the cost. The aircraft restoration project cost an estimated $6 million, whereas a new F-35 jet costs over $80 million.

While the F-35 is the Defense Department's most advanced and costliest weapon system, Congress has questioned whether the stealth fighter's capabilities justify its steep price tag, especially as the program continues to be plagued by cost overruns, production delays, and maintenance and performance issues.

The DoD extended the F-35's projected operational life from 2077 to 2088, prompting the total estimated cost of the program to exceed $2 trillion. The US military operates about 630 F-35 variants with plans to procure over 1,800 more jets for the Air Force, Marine Corps, and Navy by the mid-2040s.

Return to the fleet

After the "Franken-bird" completed its functional check flights in January, the aircraft was transported to a Lockheed Martin facility in Fort Worth, Texas, where it will complete final certifications to restore its combat-ready status.

The section behind the jet's nose, which is only covered with anti-corrosion primer, will also be finished by applying low-observable materials.

The aircraft is set to return to combat status with the 4th Fighter Squadron around March, though it could be fully operational well before then, according to Dan Santos, the F-35 JPO heavy maintenance manager.

"Not only will this project return a combat asset back to the warfighter," Santos said in a 2023 statement, "but it opens the door for repairing future mishap aircraft using tooling, equipment, techniques, and knowledge that has been developed."

The Air Force has resumed a course on the first Black pilots unit that was temporarily yanked in what officials claim was an effort to ensure compliance with President Donald Trump’s executive order banning DEI in the federal government. 

Following backlash from legislators and even the new Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the Air Force claimed reports it had yanked a course teaching new recruits about the 15,000 Black pilots, mechanics and cooks in the segregated Army of World War II known as the Tuskegee Airmen were "inaccurate." 

However, Hegseth wrote on X Sunday that the course's removal had been "immediately reversed."

Lt. Gen. Brian Robinson, Air Education and Training Command commander, said in a statement that the segment that included videos on the Tuskegee Airmen was temporarily yanked on Jan. 23 because a section of it that included DEI material was directed to be removed.

A video on the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), a paramilitary group of female pilots in World War II, was also temporarily removed.

"We believe this adjustment to curriculum to be fully aligned with the direction given in the DEI executive order," he said. "No curriculum or content highlighting the honor and valor of the Tuskegee Airmen or Women Air Force Service Pilots has been removed from Basic Military Training."

TRUMP’S CRACKDOWN ON TRANS TROOPS: NEW ORDER NIXES PREFERRED PRONOUNS AND RESTRICTS FACILITY USE

"No Airmen or Guardians will miss this block of instruction due to the revision, however, one group of trainees had the training delayed. The revised training, which focuses on the documented historic legacy and decorated valor with which these units and airmen fought for our nation in World War II and beyond will continue on 27 January."

Gen. David Allvin, Air Force chief of staff, explained further, "Allow me to clearly dispel a rumor – while we are currently reviewing all training courses to ensure compliance with the executive orders, no curriculum or content highlighting the honor and valor of the Tuskegee Airmen or Women Air Force Service Pilots has been removed from Basic Military Training."

"From day one, I directed our Air Force to implement all directives outlined in the Executive Orders issued by the president swiftly and professionally – no equivocation, no slow-rolling, no foot-dragging. When policies change, it is everyone’s responsibility to be diligent and ensure all remnants of the outdated policies are appropriately removed, and the new ones are clearly put in place," he went on in a statement. 

"Despite some inaccurate opinions expressed in reporting recently, our Air Force is faithfully executing all the president’s executive orders. Adhering to policy includes fully aligning our force with the direction given in the DEI executive order. Disguising and renaming are not compliance, and I’ve made this clear. If there are instances of less-than-full compliance, we will hold those responsible accountable."

Before the Air Force announced it would resume training on the airmen on Monday, Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., had accused it of "malicious compliance." 

"I have no doubt Secretary Hegseth will correct and get to the bottom of the malicious compliance we’ve seen in recent days. President Trump celebrated and honored the Tuskegee Airmen during his first term," she said. 

PETE HEGSETH CONFIRMED TO LEAD PENTAGON AFTER VP VANCE CASTS TIE-BREAKING VOTE

"Amen! We’re all over it, Senator. This will not stand," Hegseth echoed.

WASP were vital to ferrying warplanes throughout World War II. The Tuskegee Airmen, an active fighter unit from 1940 to 1952, were the first soldiers who flew during World War II. The group destroyed more than 100 German aircraft. 

The nation's armed forces were not desegregated until 1948, under an executive order from then-President Harry Truman. 

Trump is expected to issue a new executive order focused on rooting out DEI in the military on Monday, in addition to one restricting accommodations for transgender troops. Another executive order will reinstate service members who were fired over refusing the COVID-19 vaccine. 

• Deportation flights have begun, Trump's White House said Friday.
• Photos released by White House staff show people in restraints boarding a US airlift plane.
• Trump has tapped the military to assist with the deportation of immigrants in the US illegally.

President Donald Trump's White House said that the first deportation flights of immigrants who entered the US illegally were carried out this week. The president promised a mass deportation campaign with military assistance.

Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, confirmed the first of the flights on Friday morning, posting photos of people in restraints being boarded onto Air Force C-17 Globemaster IIIs.

"President Trump is sending a strong and clear message to the entire world: if you illegally enter the United States of America, you will face severe consequences," Leavitt said on X.

Two deportation flights on C-17s to Guatemala were flown overnight, a US defense official told Business Insider.

In a post on X Thursday night, Leavitt said the administration had arrested over 500 "illegal immigrant criminals." She said hundreds more were being deported by military aircraft. "The largest massive deportation operation in history is well underway," she wrote.

Prior to his reelection, Trump's campaign focused heavily on the issue of illegal immigration, criticizing the Biden administration for failing to protect US borders and repeatedly promising a mass deportation campaign. Deportations surged under former President Joe Biden but to less fanfare. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement data tracked almost 300,000 deportations of immigrants from October 2023 to September 2024, the highest since 2014.

Broadly, 1.1 million people were repatriated from the US in 2023. The broader term "repatriation" includes deportation, returns whether ordered or voluntary, and expulsions related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

During Trump's inaugural address on Monday, he hit on the issue again, saying that "all illegal entry will immediately be halted, and we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came."

On his first day in office, the president signed an executive order declaring a national emergency at the US-Mexico border.

Trump also signed an order directing US Northern Command to "seal the borders and maintain the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and security of the United States by repelling forms of invasion including unlawful mass migration, narcotics trafficking, human smuggling and trafficking, and other criminal activities."

A senior defense official said this week that the US military is moving an additional 1,500 active-duty soldiers and Marines to the border, boosting the force presence there by roughly 60% and raising the total active-duty force size to roughly 4,000 service members. Barred from engaging in direct law enforcement activities, the troops are operating in support roles.

Military aircraft being used in this mission include UH-72 helicopters, C-130 cargo planes, and the C-17 airlifters seen in photos from the White House. The defense official added that some military airborne surveillance assets could be sent to the border.

• The US Air Force just got its first F-15 fighter aircraft upgraded with new technology.
• The technology is designed to improve the electronic warfare capabilities of the decades-old jets.
• The Air Force hailed the development as a milestone as it looks to modernize its fourth-gen planes.

The US Air Force just received its first F-15 fighter jets upgraded with advanced electronic warfare capabilities, a significant milestone for the decades-old aircraft.

The Air Force's 48th Fighter Wing said on Tuesday that two F-15E Strike Eagle aircraft equipped with the new system arrived last week at RAF Lakenheath, a British base that hosts American forces, including newer F-35A fighters.

One of the upgraded jets was assigned to the 494th fighter squadron, while the other went to the 492nd.

The new upgrade, known as the Eagle Passive/Active Warning and Survivability System, or EPAWSS, is designed to autonomously detect and identify threats to the aircraft and then take measures to disrupt them in self-defense.

The technology is intended to improve the F-15's radar warning and geolocation, among other features, giving the pilot more situational awareness when flying in highly contested environments.

Lt. Col. Timothy Causey, the 494th commander, said that "having EPAWSS operational at RAF Lakenheath significantly enhances our ability to detect and counter threats, ensuring the safety and effectiveness of our crews."

He said that "this advanced electronic warfare system, when combined with the F-35s, acts as a powerful force multiplier, transforming our operations and amplifying the 48th Fighter Wing's impact in the battlespace."

The US Air Force had been looking at ways to improve the capabilities of its F-15s, a fourth-generation fighter first introduced in the late 1980s and made by US defense contractor McDonnell Douglas, now Boeing.

F-15E fighter-bombers play an important role in US air capabilities. Jets from RAF Lakenheath were deployed to the Middle East last year as part of efforts to boost the US military's presence in the region amid tensions between Israel and Iran.

British aerospace company BAE Systems, which makes the technology, said last year after it completed operational testing that EPAWSS would allow aircraft to penetrate deeper into areas that are protected by modern air defenses.

"We're using agile software development to provide iterative upgrades to fielded EW systems — allowing our customers to defeat future electromagnetic threats," Amy Nesbitt, the EPAWSS program manager at BAE, said in April.

EPAWSS is standard equipment on the new F-15EX Eagle II fighters, but not the older aircraft. Around 100 older F-15E variants will receive upgrades. The Air Force earlier this month cleared the system for full-rate production under a contract worth nearly $616 million.

In its Tuesday statement, the 48th Fighter Wing hailed the delivery of the two upgraded F-15s as "a major milestone in the Air Force's ongoing efforts to modernize its fourth-generation fleet."

"By equipping these aircraft with advanced electronic warfare capabilities, the 48th FW is ensuring their readiness for operations in austere environments and supporting NATO's missions across Europe and the Pacific," the fighter wing added.

• Israel has used its Air Force to strike its enemies with impunity.
• Syria's collapse now gives it unprecedented power in the air, right up to Iran's border.
• "Israel now has open skies to Iran," a Middle East analyst told BI.

The Israeli Air Force has long been regarded as the Middle East's premier aerial fleet, supplied in large part with US-made aircraft and munitions. But in the past year it has gone further, showing its aircraft can strike any of its adversaries with impunity and establishing unprecedented air superiority across wide stretches of the region.

It gutted Russian and Iranian-made air defenses in Iran, daring Iranian leaders to strike back with fewer defenses. It destroyed stocks of Hezbollah's missile arsenal in southern Lebanon and killed its top leader with a precision airstrike on his underground headquarters.

Its power was so formidable in Syria that the Assad regime and Russia secretly asked Israel to spare Assad's military, according to allegedly classified documents found in the country after that brutal regime collapsed in December.

In the wake of that collapse, Israel seized the opportunity. The Israeli Air Force (IAF) destroyed the country's vast majority of air defenses and Syrian military stockpiles.

Across 15 months of war, instigated by the Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist massacre by Hamas into Israel, the IAF has emerged supreme and is basking in its moment.

"Fighter pilots, if they wanted, could now merrily fly in pairs, with visible operating systems, at any altitude, to any range, to any spot in Israel's first circle of defense," reported the Israeli news site Ynet in late December.

Israel has long possessed the most powerful air force in the Middle East and one of the most powerful and technologically advanced anywhere in the world. It boasts over 600 aircraft and over 30,000 active personnel, with no less than 50,000 in reserve. It operates the second-largest fleet of F-16s in the world and is the only regional country that currently flies the F-35 stealth jet. Furthermore, Israel has its own version of that fifth-generation aircraft, a privilege no other country enjoys.

The IAF overwhelmingly consists of American-made aircraft that also include Apache and Black Hawk helicopters. Israel also flies a large fleet of F-15s and recently signed a $5.2 billion deal for 25 highly advanced F-15IA variants.

The IAF plays a pivotal role in the defense of Israel. It gave the small country a critical qualitative edge over its larger Arab adversaries in historical conflicts, most notably the June 1967 Six Day War.

The IAF's newfound supremacy goes beyond previous wars. For example, it previously destroyed several Soviet-built Syrian surface-to-air missile batteries in Lebanon's Beqaa Valley in a complex operation in 1982 and shot down over 80 Syrian fighter jets without incurring any losses in return. While December's operation saw the IAF strike all across Syria, the operation wasn't nearly as sophisticated or dangerous as that historical episode; many of the air defenses in the latest operation were abandoned or in low states of readiness.

"We know one reason possibly restraining Israel was a recently exposed secret agreement with Russia and Syria in which Israel agreed to refrain from wider targeting of Syria's military," said Sebastien Roblin, a widely published military aviation journalist.

Israel launched an enormous long-range air and drone attack against Iran on the night of October 26 in retaliation for an Iranian missile barrage against it on October 1. The IAF targeted some Syrian air defenses in the lead-up to the attack.

The IAF also used Iraqi airspace that October night and reportedly targeted early warning radars and sensors in both Syria and Iraq, which were part of a network Iran established in the region to detect incoming Israeli attacks. While the IAF used standoff munitions, including air-launched ballistic missiles, some Israeli aircraft are believed to have penetrated Iranian airspace.

"From what we currently know, some Israeli aircraft did reportedly breach Iranian airspace, though not, from what I've seen, very far," Ryan Bohl, a senior Middle East and North Africa analyst at the risk intelligence company RANE, told BI.

"That was in part a demonstration of capability and in part an operational necessity to effectively hit deep targets," Bohl said.

Israel stated some aircraft entered Iranian airspace, which were likely stealthy Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II jets and newly revealed long-range drones. Roblin said it's unclear if these aircraft released weapons over Iran. They could have been there to help "precisely locate key targets" and guide weapons fired by other aircraft over significant distances.

"The strike certainly had the effect of dispelling deterrence benefits of Iran's more advanced air defenses (Russian S-300 systems)," Roblin said. However, as in the case with Syria before December, Iran's remaining air defenses "still have some value in compelling use of more expensive standoff munitions and perhaps absorbing a percentage of incoming weapons."

Israel's campaign against the remnants of the Syrian military has major implications for Iran. Should Syria's airspace remain permissive to Israeli aircraft, Israel can fly its tanker aircraft closer to Iranian airspace than previously possible.

"If medium/high-altitude air defenses were truly fully destroyed, then Israel's ordinarily vulnerable tanker aircraft could indeed theoretically access Syrian airspace and refuel fighters, which could enable higher volume attacks on Iran," Roblin said.

With Syrian air defenses eliminated, Bohl believes that "Israel now has open skies to Iran."

It will likely take years before Syria manages to reestablish significant air defenses.

"The one-two-punch of Assad regime's collapse followed by Israeli strikes on surviving equipment mean Syria will require a much longer time-frame to reconstitute an air- and ground-based defense capability through expensive new equipment purchases," Roblin said. "So, Israel's ability to attack targets at will has been improved, though it was already more than adequate."

Airpower, of course, has its limits. Israel's aerial bombing has damaged roughly two-thirds of all buildings in Gaza, but it was a foot patrol that found and killed Hamas' hardline leader, who orchestrated the 10/7 attacks. Similarly, waves of Israeli airstrikes have failed to stop Iran from nuclear weapons development and uranium enrichment.

With Russia's influence diminishing, Turkey appears destined to become the new Syria's main military backer. Ankara has already offered to help Damascus rebuild the Syrian military.

"For now, Israel can ignore Syria as a defensive layer for Iran; it's just geography to fly over now," RANE's Bohl said. "But that is unlikely to be a permanent condition, and eventually, Syria's air defenses will, in some capacity, return."

"And should Turkey provide them, (that) might complicate Israel's regional strategy in a new way."

Paul Iddon is a freelance journalist and columnist who writes about Middle East developments, military affairs, politics, and history. His articles have appeared in a variety of publications focused on the region.

• The Air Force and Space Force must grow over the next two decades to counter emerging threats.
• China's rapid military advancements pose a significant challenge.
• The US is boosting cyber defenses and AI, with "machine speed" being necessary for some decisions.

Winning wars 25 years from now will hinge on achieving an edge in artificial intelligence and the ability to make certain decisions at inhuman speeds, the US Air Force's top civilian official said Monday.

Future war will be "highly automated, highly autonomous, action at long range, precision," and space will be a "decisive theater," Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said. "Response times to bring effects to bear are very short."

Advances in technology, including the proliferation of sensor technology and machine learning, have led to the ability to execute complex kill chains on faster timelines. Maintaining a competitive edge demands change and further innovation.

"We're going to be in a world," Kendall said, "where decisions will not be made at human speed; they're going to be made at machine speed." Meeting that challenge will mean transforming the Department of the Air Force through AI to shield troops from a range of threats and prepare for higher-level combat.

Kendall's remarks on Monday at a Center for Strategic and International Studies event looking at Air Force plans for the future align with Air Force leadership visions for 2050.

A December 2024 report titled The Department of the Air Force in 2050 says that the "areas of conflict that move at speeds vastly exceeding human decision time constants, such as cyber warfare and electronic warfare, are likely to be dominated by AI technologies that assess events happening at unimaginably fast speeds and unimaginably small dimensions."

"These technologies will be used to make crucial decisions with no possibility of human intervention," the report says. "Victory or defeat in the air or in space at the human scale is likely to be determined by which combatant has fielded the most advanced AI technology in the areas most crucial to achieving victory."

The Air Force secretary has previously said that he doesn't think people who say that AI is "going to determine who's the winner in the next battlefield" are "all that far off."

What Air Force leadership says is needed for future fights

"China is doing everything it can to exploit the opportunities that emerging technologies are providing to field forces designed to defeat the United States in the Western Pacific, especially in space and in the air," the Air Force plans for 2050 say.

The Air Force and Space Force have expressed concern over the pace at which China has been developing military space capabilities, including a network of hundreds of military satellites that may assist in targeting troops, among other challenges.

"The joint force will not be able to go anywhere and do anything unless we can protect it from targetings in space," Kendall explained Monday.

A more powerful Space Force is a must to combat China's growing abilities, Kendall said. "We have to go from having a merchant marine [force] to essentially having a Navy," the secretary said, comparing where the force is today and where it needs to eventually be to civilian cargo mariners and armed naval forces.

The Space Force was established during the first Trump administration and remains in the early stages of development. But strengthening US technological capabilities doesn't stop there.

The US needs to boost defense against cyber-attacks while also increasing offensive capabilities, Kendall said, adding that he expects more developments on both fronts this year. That sentiment comes on the heels of a recent alarming hack of US telecommunications systems and the US treasury, allegedly by Chinese hackers.

Autonomous vehicles and aircraft are also expected to become more prolific and play a greater role in future wars. "The only open questions about autonomy are how fast it will mature and what form it will take," the Air Force said in its report on 2050.

"The direction is quite clear at this point," it said. "By 2050, we can reasonably expect autonomous vehicle operation to be the norm, in all domains."

The Air Force has already begun experimenting with AI-assisted flight navigation for some of its jets in anticipation of a space attack that could cripple satellite-based GPS communication. It is also developing uncrewed collaborative combat aircraft and experimenting with AI-piloted fighter aircraft, key developments amid Beijing's investment in its own air forces, which is gradually eroding American air supremacy.

Autonomous military platforms and other variants of AI rely so heavily on chip technology, which the Biden Administration has put new restrictions on.

"To enhance US national security and economic strength, it is essential that we do not offshore this critical technology and that the world's AI runs on American rails," read the White House announcement.

But one of the hardest challenges in the decades to come will be how American troops and machines work together at war, Kendall said. "We're gonna have to figure out how to manage this in a way which is cost effective, which is consistent with our values, which is militarily competitive."

And, he said, "I think that's gonna be a tough problem to resolve."