Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s written testimony for Tuesday’s Senate Armed Services Committee hearing contained the declaration, “The Air Force fleet is aging.” He added: “An aging fleet means increased maintenance costs and flight restrictions. It is important that we recapitalize the fleet to retain America’s air dominance and strategic flexibility.” Given the Secretary’s history of rebuffing most Air Force efforts to reinvigorate its old aircraft fleet, it’s hard to believe Rumsfeld is softening, but it’s possible. His latest budget doesn’t offer much in the way of concrete steps, however.
An important U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry AWACS command and control plane was among the aircraft damaged in a March 27 Iranian missile and drone attack on Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, people familiar with the matter told Air & Space Forces Magazine.