After the PAMELA finding of an increasing positron fraction above 10 GeV, the experimental evidence for the presence of a new electron and positron spectral component in the cosmic ray zoo has been recently confirmed by Fermi-LAT. We show that a simple phenomenological model which assumes the presence of a primary electron and positron extra component allows a consistent description of all available data sets. We then describe the most relevant astrophysical uncertainties which still prevent to determine the electron+positron source properties from those data and the perspectives of forthcoming experiments.
Categories: astro-ph.HE