The Aerospace Advantage

Episode Summary: For decades, adversaries like China have pressed hard to erase the spacepower advantage of the United States. This includes weapons to attack our space systems and technologies on orbit to hold U.S. forces in all domains at risk. Bottom line, space is more contested today than ever before. Our Mitchell Institute team explores these realities with Chief Master Sergeant Ron Lerch, the Space Force Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Deputy of Chief of Space Operations for Intelligence. This is a crucial conversation you won't want to miss.  Credits: Host: Heather "Lucky" Penney, Director of Research, The Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies Producer: Shane Thin Executive Producer: Douglas Birkey Guest: Charles Galbreath, Director and Senior Resident Fellow for Spacepower Studies, The Mitchell Institute Spacepower Advantage Center of Excellence (MI-SPACE) Guest: Kyle "Puma" Pumroy, Senior Resident Fellow for Space Studies, MI-SPACE Guest: CMSgt. Ron Lerch, Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Deputy Chief of Space Operations for Intelligence, USSF Links: Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: https://bit.ly/3GbA5Of Website: https://mitchellaerospacepower.org/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/MitchellStudies Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Mitchell.Institute.Aerospace LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3nzBisb Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mitchellstudies/ #MitchellStudies #AerospaceAdvantage #space #intelligence #militaryleadership

Episode Summary: As the United States military works to ensure its forces can effectively employ military power in an increasingly dangerous threat environment, it is imperative that its command-and-control air battle management (C2ABM) enterprise is postured for success. The ability to ensure forces are positioned at the right time and place to best secure the desired effects, while avoiding undue risk, is crucial and will make the difference between winning and losing in future conflicts. Current C2ABM capabilities are too old, are increasingly fragile, lack sufficient capacity, and are too vulnerable. Heather “Lucky” Penney and Doug Birkey explore this topic with air battle managers Lt. Col. Alex “Big Bobby” Wallis and Lt. Col. Grant “SWAT” Georgulis . The time for change is now. U.S. forces must always retain a tactical decision advantage. Credits: Host: Heather "Lucky" Penney, Director of Research, The Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies Producer: Shane Thin Executive Producer: Douglas Birkey Guest: Doug Birkey, Executive Director, The Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies Guest: Lt. Col. Alex "Big Bobby" Wallis, Air Force Strategic Policy Fellow Alumni Guest: Lt. Col. Grant "SWAT" Georgulis, Air Force Senior Developmental Education Fellow Alumni Visit: c2coord.com Links: Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: https://bit.ly/3GbA5Of Website: https://mitchellaerospacepower.org/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/MitchellStudies Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Mitchell.Institute.Aerospace LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3nzBisb Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mitchellstudies/ #MitchellStudies #AerospaceAdvantage #air #battlemanagement

Episode Summary: Since the end of the Cold War, Central Command (CENTCOM) has been front and center for U.S. combat operations, with space playing an ever-increasing essential role in daily operations. That’s why the Space Force stood up its first component command,  U.S. Space Forces-Central (SPACECENT), in this combatant command. We discuss the history, current operations, and future of SPACECENT with its first commander, Col Chris “Tool” Putman.” Learn about how spacepower provided key contributions to defending Isreal from Iranian air and missile strikes, empowered Operation Midnight Hammer, and more. All these experiences have major implications for tactics, planning, operational employment, and integration of spacepower. Credits: Host: Heather "Lucky" Penney, Director of Research, The Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies Producer: Shane Thin Executive Producer: Douglas Birkey Guest: Col. Chris "Tool" Putman, USSF (Ret.), Former Commander, U.S. Space Forces - Central (SPACECENT) Guest: Jennifer "Boots" Reeves, Senior Resident Fellow for Spacepower Studies, The Mitchell Institute Spacepower Advantage Center of Excellence Guest: Charles Galbreath, Director and Senior Resident Fellow for Spacepower Studies, The Mitchell Institute Spacepower Advantage Center of Excellence Links: Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: https://bit.ly/3GbA5Of Website: https://mitchellaerospacepower.org/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/MitchellStudies Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Mitchell.Institute.Aerospace LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3nzBisb Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mitchellstudies/ #MitchellStudies #AerospaceAdvantage #space #militaryleadership

John "JV" Venable, former fighter pilot and airpower analyst; Charles Galbreath, spacepower specialist; Douglas Birkey, policy and regional analyst; Brig. Gen. Houston Cantwell, air operations and targeting expert; Lt. Gen. David Deptula, air campaign designer and planning authority. They discuss air campaign design, targeting high-value individuals, basing and tanker logistics, space and cyber roles, force capacity versus quality, and munitions and sustainment challenges.

Episode Summary: Join Mitchell Institute’s Spacepower Advantage Center of Excellence (MI-SPACE) for their key takeaways from this week's Warfare Symposium, in Aurora, Colorado. Get the key takeaways about Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink’s focus on acquisition, Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman's take on growing and modernizing the service, and much, much more. Charles, Jen, and Kyle also dig into insights from the panels and more from behind-the-scenes and what you didn’t hear on stage. Credits: Host: Charles Galbreath, Director and Senior Resident Fellow for Spacepower Studies, The Mitchell Institute Spacepower Advantage Center of Excellence Producer: Shane Thin Executive Producer: Douglas Birkey Guest: Jennifer "Boots" Reeves, Senior Resident Fellow for Spacepower Studies, The Mitchell Institute Spacepower Advantage Center of Excellence Guest: Kyle "Puma" Pumroy, Senior Resident Fellow for Spacepower Studies, The Mitchell Institute Spacepower Advantage Center of Excellence Links: Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: https://bit.ly/3GbA5Of Website: https://mitchellaerospacepower.org/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/MitchellStudies Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Mitchell.Institute.Aerospace LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3nzBisb Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mitchellstudies/ #MitchellStudies #AerospaceAdvantage #space #warfaresymposium

Episode Summary: Autonomy and artificial intelligence are going to have a massive impact upon aircraft, mission systems, weapons, battle management, and other command and control functions. But it isn’t enough to just write the algorithms for the autonomy and AI—we’ll need to train them to effectively coordinate with human teammates, rapidly adjust to a dynamic threat environment, adhere to commander’s intent, and afford sufficient insight for legal and reliability analysis. All of that involves capturing and curating data to promote warfighter context and relevant mission data. Lean more about this as Heather Penney chats with a team of AI experts and former warfighters, including Robert “Bobaloo” Rickard and Mark “Drifter” Valentine. Credits: Host: Heather "Lucky" Penney, Director of Research, The Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies Producer: Shane Thin Executive Producer: Douglas Birkey Guest: Robert “Bobaloo” Rickard, Founder & CEO, RCG, Inc. Guest: Mark “Drifter” Valentine, Global Head of National Security Strategy, Skydio Links: Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: https://bit.ly/3GbA5Of Website: https://mitchellaerospacepower.org/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/MitchellStudies Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Mitchell.Institute.Aerospace LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3nzBisb Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mitchellstudies/ #MitchellStudies #AerospaceAdvantage #AI #Data #MilitaryTechnology

Episode Summary: Since the end of the Cold War, Air Force resource shortfalls have hit the fighter inventory hard. Want proof? The Air Force was supposed to procure 750 F-22s, but only got 187. The F-35 inventory was supposed to be double what we currently field on flightlines. Added to that, the service continually cut the legacy inventory of F-15s, F-16s, and A-10s …but COCOM demand never slowed down. Fewer tails carry more sortie demand, which is a recipe for burnout. It’s time for a course correction. Many voices who have helped carry this message, but few are as important as the Air National Guard. We explore this crucial topic with Brig. Gen. Shannon “Sinjin” Smith, Commander of the Idaho Air National Guard. Credits: Host: Heather "Lucky" Penney, Director of Research, The Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies Producer: Shane Thin Executive Producer: Douglas Birkey Guest: Brig. Gen. Shannon "Sinjin" Smith, Commander, Idaho Air National Guard and Assistant Adjutant General - Air, Gowen Field, Boise, Idaho Guest: Douglas Birkey, Executive Director, The Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies Links: Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: https://bit.ly/3GbA5Of Website: https://mitchellaerospacepower.org/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/MitchellStudies Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Mitchell.Institute.Aerospace LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3nzBisb Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mitchellstudies/ #MitchellStudies #AerospaceAdvantage #rendezvous #government #capitolhill

Anthony "Lazer" Lazarski, Capitol Hill appropriations and acquisition expert. Jennifer "Boots" Reeves, Space Force operations and launch specialist. Jeff Rowlison, space architectures and SDA advisor. J. Michael Dahm, China military modernization analyst. Lt. Gen. David A. Deptula (Ret.), airpower and force design strategist. They dig into defense funding chaos, the new National Defense Strategy shifts, acquisition reform, industrial base urgency, and space logistics and congestion.

Episode Summary: Global Reach, Global Power—you can’t exercise that without Air Force bombers. We explore the long-range strike mission with Lt. Col. Ryan “Duke” Stillwell. He’s spent most of his career flying the B-1, including time at the weapons school, and he just wrapped up command of the 9th Bomb Squadron at Dyess AFB. What factors have shaped the modern bomber inventory into its current form in recent years? What are the current and anticipated future demands for the mission? How do we expect long range strike to evolve in the future and why? Credits: Host: Heather "Lucky" Penney, Director of Research, The Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies Producer: Shane Thin Executive Producer: Douglas Birkey Guest: Lt. Col. Ryan "Duke" Stillwell, Air Force Fellow, The Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies Links: Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: https://bit.ly/3GbA5Of Website: https://mitchellaerospacepower.org/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/MitchellStudies Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Mitchell.Institute.Aerospace LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3nzBisb Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mitchellstudies/ #MitchellStudies #AerospaceAdvantage #Bombers

J. Michael "JDAM" Dahm, Senior Fellow and China-Taiwan security specialist and lecturer, shares fresh observations from a Taiwan trip. He covers PLA rapid-response postures and airspace closures. He describes Taiwan’s terrain, amphibious-landing challenges, civil defense efforts, generational politics, and the island’s emphasis on unmanned swarm systems over traditional platforms.