Alaska Gears Up for Another Red Flag: The soon-to-be-renamed Cooperative Cope Thunder begins next week and, like the US-only Cope Thunder, will be dubbed a Red Flag-Alaska exercise. The upcoming “cooperative” version features allied participants from Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, Mongolia, Slovak Republic, South Korea, and Sweden. International observers include Malaysia, Mexico, Russia, and Sri Lanka. Officials describe the exercise, which is flown out of Eielson and Elmendorf Air Force Bases in Alaska, as the largest multi-lateral air combat exercise in the Pacific.
House, Senate Unveil Competing Proposals for 2026 Budget
July 11, 2025
Lawmakers from the House and Senate laid out competing versions of the annual defense policy bill on July 11, with vastly different potential outcomes for some of the Air Force’s most embattled programs.