Applications to the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., have dropped again for the fourth year after a post-9/11 peak. This year’s decline was two percent, with a total of 1,260 cadets accepted from an application pool of 9,200 for the class of cadets that will begin training this July, reports the Associated Press news service. In 2005, 9,500 applications were filed at the academy, down from 12,430 in 2004.
The rate of building B-21 bombers would speed up if the fiscal 2026 defense budget passes. But it remains unclear how much capacity would be added, and whether the Air Force would simply build the bombers faster, or buy more.