Wild Blue Yonder - Category Featured Articles

March 2, 2023
Beware the Wunderwaffe

The recent announcement by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak that the U.K. will send 14 Challenger II 3rdGeneration Main Battle Tanks (MBT) to Ukraine was met with jubilation in Kiev – which has long sought the latest Western tanks, aircraft, and air defense to liberate its Russian-occupied
Feb. 9, 2023
Modernizing 5th Gen Fighter Pilot Training

In no other profession are the penalties for employing untrained personnel so appalling or so irrevocable as in the military.- Douglas MacArthurAnnual Report of the Chief of Staff of the US Army (1933) Military training must…continually be forward-thinking, innovative, and aggressive.- Jim
Feb. 3, 2023
Driving Change In The Presentation And Employment Of Airpower

IntroductionIn recent remarks the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, Gen C.Q. Brown, has identified a set of imperatives for the Air Force to address to meet the challenges presented by aggressive competitors, limited resources, and accelerating technological advances.[1] This article provides an
Jan. 12, 2023
‘Kursk 2.0’: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Defense-in-Depth

In the morning of 05 July 1943, Oberkommando des Herres (OKH) ordered Army Group Center and Army Group South to begin their attack on a 250km wide and 150km deep Soviet ‘bulge’ along the Eastern Front. The attacks were to penetrate through Soviet defenses at the ‘elbows’ of the salient – Army Group
Dec. 29, 2022
Drawing a Straight Line?: The Normandy Campaign and U.S. Air Force Culture since the Second World War

In February 2019, the American military newspaper Stars and Stripes published an article that examined the unique way in which the 48th Fighter Wing of the U.S. Air Force, a unit composed of F-15E Strike Eagles and based at RAF Lakenheath, commemorated the upcoming seventy-fifth anniversary of the
Dec. 8, 2022
Maintaining Air Superiority: Looking to the Past to Inform the Future

The development of future airpower capabilities needs balanced and versatile investment to meet the gamut of United States operations and remain at par or ahead of its potential adversaries. While some foreign policy commentators and analysts see “breakthrough” technology as pivotal for the US to
Dec. 1, 2022
The False Dilemma: Rethinking AF Science and Technology Officer Talent Management

“The advantage will go to those who create the best technologies and who integrate and field them in creative operational ways that provide military advantages.” – former Secretary of the Air Force Heather WilsonToo few U.S. Air Force officers have sufficient science and technology (S&T) backgrounds
Nov. 10, 2022
Suppression by Land & Sea: Historical Uses of the Surface Domains to Combat Air Defenses

The introduction of aircraft into modern warfare led to the resulting invention and proliferation of air defense weaponry. As a response to an interwar notion about how bomber aircraft were untouchable by enemy defenses, airborne or not, celebrated airpower practitioner Claire Chennault espoused
Nov. 3, 2022
Principle Duality: S-O-M-E Principles and Pitfalls New Planners and Strategists Should Know

History is a cruel tutor. It hammers a lesson into our minds so sternly that no one dares to mention the many exceptions that must be allowed. Yet as soon as we have learned that lesson – and ignored its exceptions – history punishes us for not following another rule that posits the very
Oct. 27, 2022
Next-Generation ISR Dominance: Accelerate Change Or Lose Bangladesh

Introduction Within the next five to ten years, China is very likely to increase its economic, infrastructure, and military cooperation with Bangladesh as part of its efforts to combat the Western world order and expand from regional to global power broker. Throughout the last five decades, China