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Anthony Lazarski

Things Anthony Says on Podcasts

Principal at Cornerstone Government Affairs who speaks on defense policy, air power and space. Appears on The Aerospace Advantage, the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies podcast hosted by Heather "Lucky" Penney, on topics such as defense budgets, appropriations and space developments.

Where to Find Them

Anthony Lazarski hosts The Aerospace Advantage .

Recently: “What do the Election Results Mean for Defense? The Rendezvous — Ep. 315” on The Aerospace Advantage (November 2026); “F-117: Facts Behind the Legend — Ep. 313” on The Aerospace Advantage (October 2026); “Weapons in Space, AI Predictions, and F-35 Readiness Gains: The Rendezvous — Ep. 310” on The Aerospace Advantage (October 2026); “Congress Back in Session, Space Launch Surge, and Massed Modular Aircraft: The Rendezvous — Ep. 306” on The Aerospace Advantage (September 2026); “FY27 Budget, Space Force Launch, and the Future of Airpower — Ep. 292” on The Aerospace Advantage (May 2026); “National Security Strategy, CCA Developments, & Defense Predictions for ’26: The Rendezvous — Ep. 271” on The Aerospace Advantage (January 2026).

What They Said

“I was in the maintenance operations center and they're telling me we got X amount of aircraft ready. And I'm looking at a particular aircraft that has no engines in it, but they're counting that. So I don't know how you do that.” — Anthony Lazarski, The Aerospace Advantage

Arguing that Congress needs a clearer picture of fighter readiness, he tells of readiness counts that included an aircraft with no engines.

The Aerospace Advantage · 2026-11-07 Permalink → Listen →
The Aerospace Advantage Around 37:15 into the episode
Speaker 4

…demand, with concurrency all the time. That is just a steady state. And so I would just want to make sure that those floors account for that real-world demand, not what makes sense on an Excel spreadsheet to meet a budget top line saying one major theater only. Yeah, it's never worked that way. No,

Heather "Lucky" Penney

…will be key to sustainability and more importantly, combat success. Laser Sledge, what are your thoughts to add? I mean, a lot of congressional delegations are tracking this topic, given the advanced age of fighters and the need to recapitalize, and just to be honest, bases in their districts.

Anthony Lazarski

…and high risk because it's up to Congress. Congress ultimately says, okay, you gave me the information. You need this many fighters. Well, we only have the budget for this. And at least they know that they're accepting more risk. And that'll be key. But I think the bottom line is, you know, and you said it, I mean, even look at, we try to do operations in Iran. What was the impact on the force? I was in the maintenance operations center and they're telling me we got X amount of aircraft ready. And I'm looking at a particular aircraft that has no engines in it, but they're counting that. So I don't know how you do that. Yeah.

Heather "Lucky" Penney

Hey,

Speaker 4

that's very fuel-efficient aircraft.

Heather "Lucky" Penney

Yeah. Jen, you talked about DIA's previous assessment about what the Russians are doing and what China is doing as well. But recently, Russians were stocking some of our key satellites and we learned about that in the media. So bring us up to speed.

Speaker names come from our own diarization. The position is estimated from where the line sits in the episode.

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