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Effective Risk
The Air Force’s history is a timeline rich in success stories of innovation and calculated risks taken by Airmen to achieve a legacy of dominance in airpower, yet behind any of these success stories there’s a series of lessons learned from failure. Yet today many Air Force senior leaders express somewhere along the way in […]
Andrew Arthur Breese
April 2, 2019
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Open Code
Capt. Michael J. Kanaan, Air Force Artificial Intelligence co-chair, believes the Air Force needs more computer language experts in order to maintain dominance. Kanaan said the languages of artificial intelligence algorithms can, and should, be taught to Airmen as a mission-critical skill, just like Mandarin, Spanish or Arabic. “The languages of computers themselves are as […]
Andrew Arthur Breese
March 11, 2019
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Time is of the Essence
In early 2019, Airman interviewed Dr. Will Roper, the assistant secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics. As the Air Force’s Service Acquisition Executive, Dr. Roper is responsible for and oversees Air Force research, development and acquisition activities totaling an annual budget in excess of $40 billion for more than 465 acquisition […]
Airman Magazine
February 28, 2019
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Sustaining Balance
Lt. Gen. Robert D. McMurry, Jr. is the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center commander at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. The organization is the single center responsible for total life cycle management covering all aircraft, engines, munitions and electronic systems. It is one of six centers reporting to Air Force Materiel Command. The men […]
Bennie J. Davis III
February 11, 2019
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F-35A Lightning II
The F-35A Lightning II is a fifth-generation fighter combining advanced aerodynamics, survivability in high-threat environments and an enhanced ability to provide pilots and allied assets across operational domains with robust situational awareness. The F-35 is the result of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program to develop a single-engine, stealthy, multi-role fighter to replace an aging […]
J.M. Eddins Jr.
December 10, 2018
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Persistent Engagement
In October 2018, Airman Magazine sat down for a conversation with Maj. Gen. Robert J. Skinner, Twenty-fourth Air Force commander; Air Forces Cyber commander and Joint Force Headquarters-Cyber commander, Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas. He is responsible for providing Air Force component and combatant commanders with trained and ready cyber forces to plan, direct and […]
Airman Magazine
December 3, 2018
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Out of the Box
Dr. Richard Joseph, chief scientist of the Air Force, believes “failures have their seeds planted in success.” Bureaucracies within the Air Force perpetuate what works. Yet, they often cling to ideas, systems or methods beyond the point of effectiveness – producing failure from that success. They also tend to eliminate ideas and people that challenge […]
Andrew Arthur Breese
November 26, 2018
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Changing The Story
In October 2016, Dr. Eric Schmidt, then the Executive Director of Alphabet, Inc., Google’s parent company, and chairman of the Defense Innovation Board (DIB), independent technology and capability advisors to the Secretary of Defense, were touring the Combat Air Operations Center (CAOC) at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. Within the CAOC, U.S. Air Forces […]
J.M. Eddins Jr.
November 5, 2018
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Joint Investigation
Brig. Gen. Edward L. Vaughan is the Air National Guard Special Assistant to Maj. Gen. Scott F. Smith, the Director of Training and Readiness, Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Arlington, Va. The directorate, encompassing seven divisions and the Air Force Agency for Modeling and Simulation, is responsible for policy, guidance […]
Airman Magazine
October 16, 2018
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Redefining History
Last year, when Hurricane Irma, a monster Category 5 storm, barreled toward Florida’s southern peninsula and Homestead Air Reserve Base, The Air Force Reserve commander had a lot of decisions to make. Thankfully, history – in the form of Air Force historians – was on her side. The Air Force Reserve Command history office pulled […]
Bennie J. Davis III
October 9, 2018
