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The article reports on the reorganization of the U.S. Air Force aimed at making it the world's most powerful modern fighting unit. The service will build 137 wings by 1957, a bomber force of 40 wings, and complete conversion to jet bombers by 1958. The hug change being experienced by the service is based on a new attitude of mature, professional self-confidence. The change is being led by Chief of Staff of the Air Force, General Nathan Farragut Twining.

The article reports on the ten B-29 airplanes of the U.S. Air Force that fly only at night over Korea because of their limited air power. A statement is made by General Hoyt Sanford Vandenberg on the probability that the U.S. will retreat from enemy lines because of the lack of equipment. The country does not have adequate defense against the nuclear attack of Russia despite its rearmament after the war. The Communist Army in China has high-technology weapons and airplanes supplied by the Russians.

The article focuses on Russian Lieutenant General Vasily Stalin, son of the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin. He commanded a fighter division in Poland in 1944 and was promoted to major general in 1946. Three years later, he was again promoted to lieutenant general. The article also details the growth of Russian air power during the 1940s.

This article reports that the supposedly dead joint unmanned combat air systems (J-UCAS ) program spawns new designs as unmanned combat becomes focus for planners. The parting of the ways between the U.S. Air Force and Navy over the J-UCAS program has triggered a surge in new competition and plans for large, long-endurance aircraft. A number of aerospace companies are looking at designs with multiple engines, wingspans of more than 100 ft. and the potential to generate the power needed for directed-energy weapons or large, active electronically scanned array radars. The latter can produce pulses of microwaves intense enough to serve as weapons.

The article illustrates the importance of the science of contrails and how airmen on the opposing sides of the war used contrails to their advantage. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry where he stated that the Germans on the ground knew them through the pearly white scarf at the tail of every plane at high altitude during the war. However, the application of radar to the control of anti-aircraft systems had negated the importance of contrails.

The article focuses on the problems encountered by the U.S. Air Force related to targeting and weapon guidance systems for bombing at night during the Operation Rolling Thunder in Vietnam. In the operation, the Air Force deployed its F-105, a nuclear bomber. However, the F-105 radar delivery modes with conventional bombs dropped during the operation encountered circular error averages.

The article focuses on the U.S. Air Force's Multi-Platform Radar Technology Insertion Program (MP-RTIP) sensor. MP-RTIP was originally called a multi-platform program because it was supposed to fly on the Global Hawk Block 40 as well as the defunct E-10, which had been the slated successor to the Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System. Testing of the sensor is continuing and officials are confident that they have surpassed some of the more complex technical challenges with new modes for the system.

The article presents information on a new electronically scanned radar that can make precision strikes on ground targets and shoot down rapidly maneuvering aerial targets. An unspoken subtext to the ongoing series of experiments in the U.S. being conducted by a Boeing Co./Raytheon Co. team is that the new APG-79 active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar can find very small, even stealthy, cruise missiles and successfully attack them with an AIM-120 Amraam. The AESA radar is designed to answer that need as a communications device.

This article reports that top U.S. Air Force officers have recently begun to discuss potential weapons effects of active electronically scanned array (AESA) radars, although scientists have been quietly studying the concept. Before leaving office this summer, then-U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff General John Jumper acknowledged the service had been experimenting with the weapons effects of radars, although he provided little detail. AESA radars consist of a grid of transmit-and-receive modules operating in X-band frequencies. Normally, each T/R module would function independently to collect a return on a target. However, if an array of modules is focused on a single target, directing the radar energy, the effect can be destructive.

The article reports that the Hungarian Ministry of Defense has signed a Letter of Acceptance with the U.S. Department of Defense on the purchase of 40 AIM-120C-5 AMRAAM medium range radar-guided air-to-air missiles and associated equipment, valued at U.S. $25,389,904. The missiles are scheduled to be delivered in 2006-2007 to equip the new JAS-39 EBS-HU GRIPEN fighter aircraft of the Hungarian Air Force, which will take the country's Quick Reaction Alert task from January 2009. The contract identifies successful airframe/missile integration certification as a condition, which must be met before the missiles will be delivered.

Features the Ka-31 Radar Picket Helicopter from Russia. Universal airborne system that can be used to perform both military and civilian missions; Use of the helicopter to provide information on the air, ground and surface situation and to transmit target data to ship-borne and ground control posts; Ability to operate independently from emergency pads without external support.