CASI Quarterly update #1 for 2026

CASI Quarterly update
#1 for 2026
Friends of CASI,
            Yet another busy quarter to start off the year.  Despite a couple of shutdown bumps along the way, CASI remains actively engaged across the full spectrum of our Charter- Research, Warfighter Support, Education, and Engagement.  Let us know how CASI can support your mission.

Personnel:

            Things are up in the air right now.  Once they settle down, we will have more info on status of our positions and people.  Until then, we keep plugging away doing the research and teaching that you have come to expect from us.

CASI’s Fundamentals of the PLA Course:

We continue to have great interest in, and turn out for, our three-day PLA Fundamentals Course.  This quarter we held a shutdown abbreviated course at NDU, and despite many people needing to cancel because of travel limitations during the shutdown, we still had over 40 people attend.  We held a Mobile Education team for NATO AWACS command at NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen, Germany, and a MET for the Marine Corps at Camp Pendleton.

The next NDU in-house PLA Fundamentals course will be 2-4 June 2026.  If you are interested in attending, please sign up at: https://tinyurl.com/CASI-PLA-Fundamentals

If you are interested in hosting a Mobile Education Team (MET) version of the PLA Fundamentals course, let us know and we will do our best to find open space on the calendar to support your organization.  Please be aware that due to high demand, we are currently booked out through August, so we are already looking at late 2026 and early 2027 dates for our next availability. The PLA Fundamentals course is free to attend (TDY costs only if traveling to NDU or TDY costs for the three CASI SMEs traveling to your location for the MET version) and open to all DoD and U.S. government employees, Allies, as well as civilian contractors working for the DoD.  There is no security clearance requirement.    

China Centers- And check out what great work the other China Centers are doing:

            China Maritime Studies Institute (CMSI)

            China Landpower Studies Center (CLSC)

Save the Date!  CASI Conference 2026

            Thursday 21 May 2026 at National Defense University

More info and link to registration at: https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/CASI/Articles/Article-Display/Article/4382382/casi-conference-2026/

Recent Publications

(ITOW- In Their Own Words, TFTC- Thoughts from the Chairman)

1. The Technical Backbone: Analyzing the 2025 Targeted Training NCO Recruitment Plan
2. TFTC: The Party is All
3. The U.S. Revolution in Military Affairs and Japan: The Case of Japan Acquiring the Joint Direct Attack Munition
4. TFTC: Xi is a Patriot
5. ITOW: How Will the Form of Air Warfare Change in the Future?
6. China's Response to Operation Midnight Hammer: Caution or Paralysis?
7. PLA Reorganizes Space Information Support and Assurance Mission
8. Cultivating a Chinese Cyber Workforce: Qiangwang Cup National Cybersecurity Challenge
9. Defining Responsible Nuclear Statecraft in an Era of Great Power Competition
10. Dancers at the Knife's Edge: PLA Rocket Force Nuclear Warhead Management
11. TFTC: The Chinese Dream
12. ITOW: Science of Second Artillery Campaigns

CASI is pleased to offer hard copies of CASI full reports for free.  Please see our website at: https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/CASI/CASI-Publications/ 
for the full list and for the order form.  Please note- most of the articles and short reports are available in PDF only.

Support to the Warfighter

1. Guest lectured at HQ AFROTC Commander’s Symposium
2. Guest lectured at Utah Air National Guard’s 169th Intelligence Squadron
3. Guest lectured at 7th Air Support Operations Squadron
4. Briefed Space Force Vice Chief of Space Operations
5. Held meetings with INDOPACOM, MARFORPAC, PACFLT, USSPACEFOR-INDOPAC, APCSS, and multiple PACAF entities
6. Held meeting with Joint Staff J-2
7. Guest lectured at 75th ABW Leadership Conference
8. Supported SOCOM project
9. Briefed 5^th MEB/ TF-51 Senior Staff
10. Briefed NAVCENT leadership
11. Participated in panel discussion at J7 Joint Futures Forum
12. Keynote speaker at Global Air Forces Deputies Meeting
13. Participated in POWER wargame.
14. Briefed HQMC on Chinese Information Domain Operations
15. Guest lectured at A4 Readiness Roadshow
16. Guest speaker for NRO Vandenberg
17. Lectured at the Combined Forces Air Component Commanders Course
18. Supported NATO Competition Event
19. Met with Space Force S-2
20. Briefed 368^th Training Squadron
21. Lectured at Senior Joint Information Operations Applications Course
22. Supported III MAW OPLAN OPT

Education

1. Presented brief to Joint Information Planner’s Course for Joint Forces Staff College
2. Presented 2 briefs to Gaylor NCO Academy
3. Presented brief to AF Global College
4. Guest lectured at NDU Eisenhower School on PLA modernization.
5. Guest lectured at Army War College on PLA and artificial intelligence
6. Presented 2 briefs to Sheppard NCO Academy
7. Presented brief to DirMobFor (DM4) course
8. Presented 2 briefs to Barnes Center SNCO Academy
9. Presented 2 briefs to Vosler NCO Academy
10. Supported NWC Educational Wargaming Event
11. Presented brief to AETC 82 FSS/FSDA
12. Presented brief to PCCT
13. Presented brief to Intel 300 Course
14. Presented brief to JFOWC
15. Presented brief to ACSLC
16. Mobile Education team for NATO AWACS Command at NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen
17. Taught FSI class on Chinese cognitive warfare
18. Lectured at 3 iterations of the ISR200 course
19. Lectured at 2 iterations of the Supervisor as a Leader course
20. Lectured at 2 iterations of the Contingency Wartime Planning Course
21. Lectured at the Defense Financial Management Course
22. Lectured at 3 iterations of the Professional Financial Management Course
23. Lectured at the Basic Chaplain Course
24. Lectured at the First Sergeant Academy
25. Lectured at 2 iterations of Squadron Officer School
26. Mobile Education team for Marine Corps Information Operations Center

 Engagement and Outreach
     In addition to providing support to the Department of the Air Force staff, CASI has had another busy quarter supporting the USAF and the DoD, as well as our allies, partners, and friends. CASI:

1. Our very own Kristin Burke was honored by VIA Satellite in their Celebrating Women in Satellite 2026 issue:
2. We have continued the CASI fellowship at the Japanese Air and Space Studies Institute (JASI).  CASI is excited to build on our strong relationship with our JASDF allies, which goes all the way back to CASI’s inaugural conference, where General Uchikura (now Chief of Staff of the JASDF, then Air Defense Command commander) was CASI’s first keynote speaker.  Our CASI fellow has already met with several Japanese government, military, and academic representatives and has participated in the Chinese Military Research Society’s quarterly meeting. He will join a wargame, attend the U.S. Army’s annual China OSINT Summit, and conduct briefings about the Chinese air force and Chinese air power at the Japanese Air Command and Staff College and the Canon Institute for Global Studies.
3. CASI ITOW formed the basis for National Guard Association of the United States weekly Washington Report-newsletter
4. Hosted Air Vice Marshall Mike Blackburn for a visit to CASI and NDU
5. Attended USA China Landpower Studies Center PLA conference.
6. Interviewed for the article “Hat Trump China Vergessen?”  in Swiss Newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung (one of the oldest newspapers in the world).
7. Met with Defense Attaché of Ukraine to the United States
8. Managing Editor for Cyber Defense Review Article on “Can NATO settle in Northeast Asia?: Focusing on Northeast Asia-NATO cooperation structure foundation in cyber security”
9. Mentor for CEO of Agard Research Associates Inc. on research titled “The Intelligentized Security Dilemma: Systems Destruction Warfare, Technological Entanglement, and the Erosion of Strategic Stability”
10. Met with Partnership for Peace Consortium (Marshall Center)
11. Met with Neuroscientist at Georgetown University Medical Center to discuss cognitive warfare
12. Held day-long event with German Space Command
13. Met with Provost of Foreign Service Institute
14. Met with JASDF Air and Space Attache
15. Cited in Small War Journals article “Assessing “Cognitive Warfare”
16. Participated in Joint Space Operations Summit
17. Lectured to Fellows at the National Nuclear Security Administration

Keep in contact with us:
CASI website www.airuniversity.af.mil/CASI/
Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/CASI_Research
Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/CASI.Research.Org
Link with us on LinkedIn:  www.linkedin.com/company/china-aerospace-studies-institute

As always, please feel free to send this update, or our website/ contact information, to anyone you feel might be interested in CASI or our research. Let us know if you have any thoughts, requests for support, or ideas for future papers and projects.