Defense Business Brief: Dispatch from AFA’s Air, Space, & Cyber 2026

The useful part

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.— The Air Force Test Center is prepared to keep up with the Pentagon's calls to buy, develop, test, and field technology quickly—but safety remains the top priority, the center's commander said. Mark Massaro, who leads the Air Force Test Center, told reporters during this week's Air, Space & Cyber conference hosted by the Air and Space Forces Association. Massaro's comments come just three months after eight airmen died during a test flight of Boeing's B-52 Stratofortress at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

How it works

• The work that we do, as I've noted, is, can be dangerous.
• They also come nearly a year after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth pushed for sweeping acquisition reform, which includes "being open to buying the 85 percent solution" while achieving the more perfect...
• Separately, the Pentagon has slashed staff and reorganized its weapons testing organization, which raised oversight concerns, according to a Government Accountability Office report released earlier this year.

What to take from it

So we don't want to take risks that are unnecessary and unsafe.

Details worth keeping

So that's always something that we're on the lookout for," Brig. "There's a lot of capabilities out there today that might n...