Two Heritage Foundation analysts have issued a treatise declaring that the Air Force is wasting hard-fought dollars to buy a new .45 caliber handgun when its current crop of 9mm Berettas should suffice. It’s true the service does want a new handgun for its rising cadre of battlefield airmen and convoy operators. Mackenzie Eaglen and Oliver Horn decry the Air Force effort, writing that the “Army and Marine Corps—the services most likely to use the weapon in combat—have shown no desire to switch back to a .45.” They go on to say that Army and US Special Operations Command reviews over the last few years have favored the 9 mm. That must come as news to House Appropriations defense panel Chairman John Murtha (D-Pa.), who earlier this year in quizzing Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley about the handgun’s inclusion in the 2007 supplemental request, commented that he had heard from all the services that “a Beretta’s inadequate.” He went on: “I hear you’ve got to put two or three shots in a person before you’re able to stop them.”
Planning an Air Show Is Hard. At Andrews, It’s Even Harder
Sept. 17, 2025
Joint Base Andrews opened its flightline this month to thousands of civilians, exposing a normally restricted airbase that regularly hosts the president and foreign dignitaries to a curious public eager to see current and historic military aircraft up close and in action.
