Alabama Air National Guard Brig. Gen. Stanley Clarke III will succeed ANG Maj. Gen. Charles Ickes II as deputy director of the Air Guard. Clarke, who has been serving as deputy director for strategic planning on the Air Staff, took undergraduate pilot training at Sheppard AFB, Tex., in 1982 and joined the Air Guard in 1991. Ickes has been deputy director since February 2005 and now will serve as special assistant for Air, Space, and Information Operations, Plans and Requirements on the Air Staff.
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.