South Dakota Republican Sen. John Thune claims the Air Force misled the BRAC commission about a federal lawsuit affecting the B-1Bs that fly out of Dyess AFB, Tex. Residents near Dyess filed suit in 2000 over noise along training routes. (Read our story here.) Thune wants to save Ellsworth AFB, S.D., which, under the Pentagon’s BRAC proposals, would shift its B-1B bombers to Dyess and be shut down. He says the lawsuit is more threatening than the Air Force makes it out to be.
KC-46’s Refueling Boom Damaged While Refueling F-22s
July 8, 2025
A U.S. Air Force KC-46 tanker suffered damage to its boom while refueling F-22 Raptors off the coast of Virginia on July 8, Air & Space Forces Magazine has confirmed, with reported radio communication from the crew indicating the boom “detached.”