An Air Combat Command accident investigation board found that the bearing assembly of the No. 4 engine on an F-16 that crashed in Utah last March failed, leading to a compressor stall, vibrations, and loss of thrust. The pilot ejected safely after deciding he wasn’t close enough to glide to the nearest airfield. He restarted the engine once but had such poor engine thrust he couldn’t maintain level flight.
B-52 Stratofortress bombers marked a new first in Operation Epic Fury when some of the BUFFs flew over Iran carrying JDAM-guided gravity bombs, according to people familiar with the matter. The development signals a weakening of Iranian air defenses and a new use for the venerable bomber in the nearly…