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The Republic of Korea Air Force has accelerated plans to retire its F-5E/F fighters from service, after these aircraft for decades formed the backbone of its fleet, bringing forward the date of retirement from the end of 2030, to the end of 2027. The accelerated retirement timeline was announced by Air Force Chief of Staff General Son Seok-rak, at a time when the KF-21 fifth generation fighter program has faced delays and cost overruns.

Maintaining deterrence in the Indo-Pacific and around the world requires the U.S. Navy to change what it builds and how it fights. Sen. Roger Wicker observed in 2024 that the United States’ approach to fleet design and ship construction is “too small and too old.” The current model of naval power cannot scale at the speed modern war demands. The war with Iran is already exposing the limits. High-end ships are being consumed in sustained operations, munitions inventories are thinning, and replacement timelines for exquisite weapons stretch into years.

What if the next decisive intelligence advantage isn’t a recruited insider but a nation’s ability to model entire societies from its digital exhaust? Salt Typhoon’s multi-year cyber campaigns against U.S. telecommunications networks and critical infrastructure demonstrate China’s unparalleled focus on data-centric espionage: collect widely, analyze fast, and operationalize at scale — alongside continued investments in traditional intelligence disciplines. This approach reshapes how the United States has conventionally thought about intelligence advantage.