Free Republic

The Air Force has apparently gotten over one of its biggest taboos: talking internally about the possibility of buying more F-22s. Until recently, USAF was under strict orders not even to think about it, but recent developments have caused the possibility to crop up in some "what if" PowerPoint slides. Those developments include likely further slips in the F-35 strike fighter's schedule and an upcoming defense acquisition board review of the F-35 expected to be fraught with bad news on cost. That would come on the heels of various deficit-cutting proposals that already suggest cutting the F-35 buy. Without F-35,...

After six months in orbit, the U.S. Air Force X-37B UOV (unmanned orbital vehicle) is proving elusive to amateur astronomers. This international collection of sky watchers have proved remarkably adept at spotting orbital objects in the past, including classified ones like the X-37B. One notable incident occurred two years ago, when a U.S. spy satellite fell out of orbit (apparently because of a failure in its maneuvering system). The amateur astronomers were able to track it. If this had not been an American reconnaissance satellite, there would have been no media attention to this, because 4-5 satellites a month fall...

Israel will deploy in November its anti-missile system designed to combat threats from the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, the defence ministry said on Monday. "The Iron Dome interceptor, in conjunction with air force and anti-aircraft systems, successfully downed a large number of threats in fully operational mode," the ministry said in statement. "The first two batteries will become operational in November 2010," it said adding that "the defence ministry will soon place orders for additional batteries." The system is designed to intercept short-range rockets and artillery shells, of which Hamas and the Hezbollah have fired thousands at Israel in the...

The Global Times' correspondent, Sun Wei, conducted a question-and-answer session by e-mail Wednesday with Craig Caffrey (Caffrey), the author of "Chinese military aircraft: Up and coming." GT: Why are you concerned about the Chinese air force in particular? The Diplomat magazine said China is "building a force that will be without rival in the Asia-Pacific." What do you think of such a comment? Caffrey: China's emergence as a global power is one of the most important geo-political issues at present, and this process has a number of significant implications in the defense and security sector. The modernization of the Chinese...

Pakistani air force joins U.S. counterparts in joint maneuvers over North America using the F-16 Fighting Falcon in late 2010, sources said Monday. Sources to the Pakistani newspaper The National said U.S. and Pakistani teams would participate in defense maneuvers in the United States. "The joint exercises have been planned in the wake of the quality performance of the Pakistani air force in air raids in the tribal areas as part of the war on terror as well as the recognition of its air power in South Asia," the source said on condition of anonymity. Pakistani military officials said air...

<p>Reports about a new U.S. agenda for manned space travel sent aerospace stocks climbing Friday and brought back a wave of nostalgia for the '60s and '70s, when everything from rockets to space capsules were built in Southern California and even the cars were styled like spaceships.</p>