July 30, 2012
David Fulghum WashingtonThere are many breakthrough war-fighting technologies available to U.S. Air Force planners, but perhaps only 10-20% of these projects have any chance of being funded for the foreseeable future.
Among the concepts are weaponry—both kinetic and directed energy—to intercept ballistic missiles as they launch and to attack low-orbiting space objects. There also are warheads that destroy, befuddle and misinform enemy electronics. They come in various sizes to fit 1-ton bomb casings, cruise missiles and long–range air-to-air missiles. Cybersurveillance devices and weapons are already being introduced into the service's arsenal; but as their sophistication goes up, so does the price. The brakes are already being applied to all of these and other advanced concepts. Even so, the Air Force had the largest cybersecurity budget of any of the services at $622 million for fiscal 2011, or 34% of the Pentagon's $1.82 billion total for that year.
“After an early period of substantial aspirations [particularly in cyberactivities], we have recalibrated,” says Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz, who is slated to retire in August. “That's in part the recognition that this is a mission area that will take time and expertise to do well.”
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