July 10, 2026 Air Superiority is More than Denial Rejecting the misguided notion that modern air forces can settle for mere "air denial," a veteran B-1 pilot argues that true, offensive air superiority remains the non-negotiable prerequisite to winning wars and safeguarding joint-force operations.
July 10, 2026 Data Centers at Risk: The Fragile Core of American Power Because the Pentagon's critical command networks and decision-making systems rely on the same commercial cloud infrastructure as everyday web services, America's military power is perilously exposed to physical and cyber attacks on highly concentrated, vulnerable private-sector data
July 10, 2026 The Drone Supply Chain War: Identifying the Chokepoints to Making a Drone With almost every military drone on the modern battlefield relying on adversary-controlled factories for critical minerals, rare-earth magnets, and specialty semiconductors, a new CSIS analysis identifies five strategic vulnerabilities in the drone supply chain and outlines four crucial steps to
July 10, 2026 Quantum Sensing and the Future of Warfare: Five Essential Reforms to Stay Competitive To maintain its strategic military advantage in a post-stealth era, the United States must enact five critical institutional reforms—including unified technology ownership and focused industrial supply chain policies—to rapidly transition breakthrough quantum sensing physics from fragile
July 10, 2026 Why Mission Focus Determines Our Future Tools The Air Force must escape the "perception trap" by shifting its focus from acquiring shiny new technology to deeply understanding and adapting to how fast-evolving capabilities can actually be perceived and utilized in the modern battlespace.
July 10, 2026 Reciprocity in Deterrence, Not Just Trade To deter two nuclear-armed adversaries simultaneously without triggering a destabilizing arms race, the United States must replace outdated single-adversary strategies with "Dynamic Parity"—matching the aggregate threat while shielding its nuclear modernization budget from annual
July 10, 2026 Deterrence Elasticity: Building Scalable Strategic Capacity in the Simultaneity Era By centering national defense policy on "deterrence elasticity," the United States can leverage the rapid mobilization and unique survivability of its strategic bomber force to outpace emerging modern threats.
July 10, 2026 U.S. Aircraft Combat Losses in Operation Epic Fury: Considerations for Congress As the cost estimate for Operation Epic Fury in Iran climbs to $29 billion, a new Congressional Research Service report reveals that the U.S. has lost or damaged at least 42 aircraft—primarily uncrewed platforms like MQ-9 Reapers alongside critical tankers and fighter jets—raising urgent
July 10, 2026 Airlift Aircraft: Background and Issues for Congress To sustain global force projection and rapid mobility, Congress must weigh critical decisions regarding statutory fleet sizes, the retirement of legacy transport aircraft, and the funding balance between upgrading current fleets and developing the Next-Generation Airlift (NGAL) program.
July 10, 2026 Refueling Tanker Aircraft: Background and Issues for Congress As the Air Force transitions its aging aerial refueling fleet to meet modern combat demands, Congress faces critical decisions over mandatory fleet sizes, commercial integration, and funding the next generation of highly survivable, connected tankers.