Air Force aircraft maintainers at Bagram AB, Afghanistan are lending the kind of in-lieu-of support envisioned by Air Force leaders—they are helping Army and Navy maintainers with aircraft repairs. Airmen of the 455th Expeditionary Maintenance Squadron started out loaning tools and providing supplies to soldiers who maintain CH-47s, but SSgt. Craig Seals reports that wear and tear and mishaps “created a manpower shortage” for Army structural maintainers, so the 455th airmen began lending a hand. And, when the Navy needed to bend some hydraulic tubing lines for its aircraft, the airmen stepped in.
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.
