– War on the Rocks – Very interesting article by T.X. Hammes on the current state of unmanned aerial vehicles and how the United States’ enemies may obtain and use them, and how they make high cost US defense assets very vulnerable.

– The Atlantic – Mark Bowden on how to think about drones.

– Wired – An interesting look at the contributions amateurs are making to the field of unmanned aerial vehicles.

– Daily Telegraph – The unmanned aircraft patrolling the skies above Afghanistan are controlled by RAF pilots sitting in front of screens as far as 7,000 miles away

– New York Times – An interesting look at the life of a Predator pilot.

– New York Times Magazine – At a desert facility, Air Force pilots are trained to fight America’s remote-controlled wars.

– Los Angeles Times – Physically they may be thousands of miles from Iraq or Afghanistan. Psychologically, they’re on the ground with troops. The disconnect, and the sense of helplessness, take a toll.

– The Nation – A look at the history of the use of unmanned aerial vehicles in warfare.

– New York Times – P.W. Singer asks if use of unmanned aerial vehicles by the US undermines our democracy.

– Air Force – B-2 and B-52 rotations to Guam offer valuable training—and send a powerful message. A look at Air-Sea Battle as it exists today.

– The Economist – Why the future of air power belongs to unmanned systems.

– Armed Forces Journal – P.W. Singer writes that unmanned systems could be casualties of budget pressures

– Air Force – The mission spent the 1990s adrift, but aircraft are again seen as a prime way to track and target threats at sea.

Popular Mechanics – How the U.S. Military Can Win the Robotic Revolution

In 2003, the U.S. invaded Iraq with just a handful of unmanned vehicles. Now, less than a decade later, we have 7000 robots overseas in the air alone. The U.S. dominates the robot war room, for now. Here, military analyst P.W. Singer lays out a plan for how the U.S. can stay ahead, and avoid building the Pontiac Aztek of war, an over-hyped but underperforming dud.

Newsweek – Defending Against Drones

P.W. Singer on how the United States’ new favorite weapon in the war on terror could soon be turned against us.

Washington Post – Combat Generation: Drone operators climb on winds of change in the Air Force

The Air Force’s identity crisis is one of many ways that a decade of intense and unrelenting combat is reshaping the U.S. military and redefining the American way of war. The battle against insurgents in Afghanistan and Iraq has created an insatiable demand for the once-lowly drone, elevating the importance of the officers who fly them.

New York Times – Air Defense Push Inspired by 9/11 Gets a 2nd Look

The US may not be able to afford the cost of defending its skies…

Air Force – Fighting Under Missile Attack

The Air Force hasn’t thought about air base defense for a while. Now, things are changing. A look at how China could strike first at US air bases in the Pacific.

Economist – Attack of the drones

Smaller and smarter unmanned aircraft are transforming spying and redefining the idea of air power.

Aviation Week and Space Technology – Predator C Avenger Makes First Flights

A new, reduced-signature, unmanned aircraft—the long-rumored, 20-hr.-endurance, pure-jet Predator C Avenger—has emerged from General Atomics Aeronautical Systems’ workshops after a 3½-year gestation period paced by massive growth in UAV production and the use of unmanned designs in combat. The UAV’s undeniably stealthed-up exterior offers several clues about how the aircraft could be employed.

Defense Technology International – What Fighters Do

Bill Sweetman, editor of Defense Technology International, shares his PowerPoint presentation entitled “Fighters in the Long War” that explains the relevance of the manned fighter aircraft as a weapon in the 21st century. An extremely well thought out presentation from a dean of military aviation…

The presentation is stored here: http://www.sendspace.com/file/z2v3l1

The Atlantic – The Last Ace

Mark Bowden writes that American air superiority has been so complete for so long that we take it for granted. For more than half a century, we’ve made only rare use of the aerial-combat skills of a man like Cesar Rodriguez, who retired two years ago with more air-to-air kills than any other active-duty fighter pilot. But our technological edge is eroding—Russia, China, India, North Korea, and Pakistan all now fly fighter jets with capabilities equal or superior to those of the F-15, the backbone of American air power since the Carter era. Now we have a choice. We can stock the Air Force with the expensive, cutting-edge F‑22—maintaining our technological superiority at great expense to our Treasury. Or we can go back to a time when the cost of air supremacy was paid in the blood of men like Rodriguez.

Wall Street Journal – Another look at how the Predator is changing the way the US Air Force operates.
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Air Force – Some call it ìPredator on steroids,î but that doesnít begin to describe this new aircraft.
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New York Times – If youíre the type of shopper who spends billions of dollars on lethal military gadgets, and youíre ever invited to visit General Atomics Aeronautical Systems – the small, privately held San Diego company that has quickly become one of the military industryís most celebrated businesses – take a bit of advice: accept a ride on the corporate jet.
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