Aerospace Power Facts & Figures

Dollars & Sense

Defense Spending in Perspective When the subject of federal spending is discussed, the defense budget is often cited as a leading expenditure source. However, this is an inaccurate statement. Entitlement spending has been vastly outpacing defense allocations for years by a wide margin. In 2018, defense spending was 3.1 percent of US gross domestic product, while entitlements stood at 12.1 percent, nearly four-fold imbalance. Projections suggest this gap may widen in the future given demographic

Future Trends

The Challenge Individuals engaging in tomorrow’s aerospace domain, whether at the tactical, operational, or strategic levels, will face a future far different than what they experienced in the past. The last century saw aerospace power ascend in the industrial age, when the state of the art was governed by mechanical prowess. The United States held a key advantage in this era given its innovative talent, industrial might, and fiscal resources. However, advancing aerospace advantages in

The Attributes Required for Tomorrows Aerospace Force

If there is one variable that is radically impacting what it means to project effective aerospace power in the information age, it is the combat cloud. The ability to gather information, process it, and collaborate with other mission partners to yield desired mission effects through teamwork is the central tenet of this concept. It is at the heart of fifth generation aircraft, it ties directly to how remotely piloted aircraft like the MQ-9 function, and

Aerospace Power Affords Key Advantages

Aerospace power is a fundamentally unique tool in its multiple forms of application, which can generally be broken down into the following categories: global strike; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; aerial mobility; and air superiority. None of these missions exist in a vacuum. Instead, they are tremendously interconnected and interdependent. In fact, connectivity and processing power is transforming these individual applications into a multidisciplinary mission ecosystem, whereby the attributes of each mission can be combined real-time

The Challenge

The United States faces significant national security headwinds, the likes of which it has not seen since the Cold War. Whether considering technological challenges, industrial base considerations, or basic fiscal realities, adversaries are rapidly eroding security advantages enjoyed by the US over the last several decades. Aerospace power empowered by the attributes of the information age will allow the US to pursue strategies that will yield effective, prudent policy options amidst these new realities. Nations

Flying & Fighting in the Modern Age

Employing successful modern combat aerospace power today and in the future demands questioning long-standing assumptions and seeking smarter ways of achieving desired mission goals. A Growing Threat With the threat environment growing far more dangerous, aerospace capabilities once considered survivable and resilient are now increasingly unable to execute their missions. Adversaries are defending their own territory with increasingly sophisticated surface-to-air missile systems, fighter aircraft, and electronic warfare systems. They are also projecting power far forward,