Air Force Secretary Wynne sees aircraft technology improvements—both in increased reliability and reduced maintenance—as pivotal to the new thinking that USAF can focus its recapitalization efforts in other areas. These new factors are driving “a re-evaluation of how [the Air Force does] operations,” said Wynne. He added that continuing innovation “will change the Air Force character.”
The Pentagon is significantly bolstering airpower near Venezuela, dispatching the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group to Latin America, it said in an Oct. 24 statement. The announcement came just hours after U.S. Air Force B-1 bombers and other U.S. assets flew near the Venezuelan coast on Oct. 23.

