In this episode of The War Lab, we dive into the future of air and space power—where munitions innovation and revolutionary operational concepts converge to redefine global conflict. The discussion unpacks the evolution from precision strike dominance to today’s contested, high-threat environments, where adversaries like China and Russia are deliberately targeting America’s traditional strengths.

We explore how U.S. airpower is adapting through three major trends in munitions development: modernizing legacy weapons, pushing the boundaries with hypersonics and advanced seekers, and ensuring affordable mass production to sustain long, high-intensity conflicts. The conversation then shifts to the game-changing concept of Disaggregated Collaborative Air Operations (DCAO)—a doctrine designed to fight and win in communication-denied battlespaces by leveraging autonomy, human-machine teaming, and distributed force structures.

From the Stormbreaker bomb to collaborative combat aircraft (CCAs) and the next-generation air dominance program (NGAD), listeners will gain an insider’s view of the technologies, strategies, and cultural shifts shaping tomorrow’s battlefield. Most importantly, we confront the ultimate strategic question: how can the U.S. Air Force deter and prevail even when its networks are disrupted, its GPS jammed, and its reachback severed?

Join us for this rigorous, comprehensive breakdown of the technologies, doctrines, and mindsets that will define air superiority in the era of great power competition.