Air Force Funds New External Pylons for B-1, Eyeing Loadout Gains and Hypersonic Testing

July 15, 2025 | By John A. Tirpak

The Air Force plans to add external weapons pylons on the B-1B bomber, both to increase the number of aircraft that can test hypersonic missiles and expand the Lancer’s loadout as USAF transitions to the B-21 bomber, according to service budget documents and contractor Boeing.

The fiscal 2026 budget request includes $50.26 million for a new effort called the “External Heavy-Stores Pylon program,” which will provide “increased carriage capacity of standoff munitions on B-1B aircraft.” This “increased volume of fires” off the B-1B can be done in the near term, the documents state.

By expanding the number of existing standoff weapons the B-1B can carry—such as the AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile and its stablemate, the Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM)—the Air Force says it can “mitigate transition risk of the Air Force bomber fleet prior to the emergence of the B-21 as a combat bomber.”

In other words, the Air Force wants to give the B-1B more shots per sortie in part to account for any delays as the B-21 enters the fleet.

The B-1 already has six external hardpoints, which were originally intended to carry two nuclear-armed AGM-86B Air-Launched Cruise Missiles, but they were deactivated under arms control treaties with Russia; those agreements saw the B-1 removed from nuclear delivery missions. The Air Force is now looking to reopen those weapon stations, each of which the service said should be capable of carrying a 5,000-pound payload.

One external station on the B-1B was already reopened to permit it to carry the Sniper laser electro-optical targeting pod.

For fiscal 2026, the Air Force plans to conduct computational fluid dynamics and wind tunnel testing of various external pylon/weapon configurations and begin the design of needed hardware changes. The service will also start software work to tie the new pylons in with the Lancer’s stores management system.

Two years ago, Boeing revealed the Load Adaptable Modular pylon, which could allow the B-1 to carry additional weapons on external stations. The company promoted the idea of using the B-1 for hypersonics testing, arguing that B-52 fleet already has enough testing to be done in the next seven years, given various programs to give it new radar, engines, communications gear, and other upgrades. Boeing said the B-52 program could offload some or all hypersonic testing to the B-1, given the right external capability.

Part of the 2026 B-1B budget documents note that USAF spent $20 million over fiscal years ’22 and ’23 to develop “an external carry-enabled testbed facilitating rapid integration of priority hypersonic weapons in support of national security objectives” and this created the “opportunity” to increase the B-1’s loadout.

“This program provides an opportunity to significantly reduce risk for an operational external carry capability on the B-1B if directed. The Hypersonic Integration Program successfully demonstrated the B-1’s ability to execute a captive carry of a 5,000-pound class store and the release of a proven weapon shape from a Load Adaptable Modular (LAM) pylon,” the document states.

One of those “opportunities” is the LRASM. Adding the LRASM to the B-1 “addresses an air-launch capability gap” by providing “flexible, long-range, advanced, anti-surface capability against high-threat maritime targets.”

The documents stated that procurement of the latest version of the LRASM will start near the end of fiscal 2027 and continue “until the missile inventory objective is met.”

According to an in-house Boeing newsletter, addition of the LAM could allow the B-1 to “increase 50 percent of its current weapons payload capacity with larger and heavier weapons.” It said each of the six pylons can carry two 2,000-pound weapons or one 5,000-pound weapon. The system was developed under independent research and development, and the company said it “saved over two years of development time, speeding increased combat capability to the flight line.”

With the new pylons, the B-1’s loadout of JASSM or LRASM could increase from 24 missiles internally to 36 in a mix of internal and external hardpoints.

The Air Force has at least two air-launched hypersonic missiles in development. It initially said it was shelving the AGM-183 Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW)—a boost-glide hypersonic system—after mixed results in testing, but ARRW is back in the 2026 budget. The service is also pursuing the smaller Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (HACM), an air-breathing missile small enough to be launched from fighters. When Boeing first unveiled the LAM to reporters in 2023, it said the pylon could likely carry up to 7,500 pounds, which would allow it to carry the ARRW, the weight of which is estimated to be around 6,500 pounds. It’s not clear if the budget language specifying 5,000 pounds is the result of test results.

The LAM continues in testing under the 412th Test Wing at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., which has demonstrated the pylon with inert munitions.

B-52s Escorted by Korean and Japanese Fighters as Defense Chiefs Meet

July 15, 2025 | By Chris Gordon

The U.S., South Korea, and Japan conducted a rare trilateral flight with two U.S. B-52H Stratofortress bombers escorted by two Japan Air Self-Defense Force F-2 fighters and two ROK Air Force KF-16s, both countries’ respective variants of the F-16, on July 11. That same weekend, the top military officers of the three nations met in an annual “Tri-CHOD” meeting in Seoul.

“The flight continues to demonstrate and train the collective ability to immediately respond to regional security challenges,” U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement. “Our steadfast commitment fosters trust, strengthens cooperation, and reinforces the collective will and ability to maintain security and stability in the Indo-Pacific.”

The event is the third trilateral flight of 2025 between the three nations, including a B-1B Lancer bomber escort flight in January.

The B-52H Stratofortress bombers that participated in the mission are deployed to Anderson Air Force Base, Guam, from their home at Minot Air Force Base, N.D., on a bomber task force deployment. The deployment is occurring during the Resolute Force Pacific exercise, which is scheduled to involve more than 300 aircraft.

The same day, Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, held a trilateral meeting with South Korean Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Kim Myung-soo and Japan’s Chief of Staff for Joint Staff Gen. Yoshida Yoshihide. Caine and the U.S. delegation also had bilateral meetings with both countries.

Both the B-52 flight and the meetings underscore how China’s military buildup and aggressive posture in the Pacific have changed regional dynamics. South Korea and Japan have historically had an acrimonious relationship but have increasingly participated in military drills together and with the U.S., their main ally.

“The three chiefs of defense recognized the importance of close trilateral cooperation in addressing security challenges on the Korean Peninsula, in the Indo-Pacific, and beyond,” a joint declaration from the meeting stated. “The three defense chiefs reaffirmed that trilateral security cooperation has played a key role in promoting peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula and in the Indo-Pacific. They focused on various ways to deepen their cooperation to ensure peace and stability in the region.”

China was not singled out by name, but the joint statement took particular aim at the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or DPRK, as North Korea is formally known. North Korea has moved to assist Russia in its war in Ukraine by deploying troops and supplying missiles as it continues its nuclear weapons program.

“The defense chiefs condemned the DPRK’s continued development of unlawful nuclear and ballistic missile programs and agreed to continue coordination toward the complete denuclearization of the DPRK in accordance with relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions (UNSCRs),” the joint statement read. “They also discussed the deployment of the DPRK’s troops to Russia, as well as the potential transfer of military technology from Russia to the DPRK. They urged the DPRK to immediately cease all unlawful activities to destabilize the Korean Peninsula, the Indo-Pacific, and beyond, and pledged to continue working together to respond to the DPRK’s threats.”

Lawmakers Push Space Force to Invest in New, Commercial Surveillance

July 15, 2025 | By Greg Hadley

Space Force leaders have touted their “surveillance-as-a-service” TacSRT program as a success story, leveraging commercial firms to deliver information to users on timelines far faster than typical space intelligence assets.

Now, lawmakers want the service to put more heft behind the effort—starting by actually funding the program in fiscal 2026.

Additionally, Congress is pushing for the Space Force to enhance its tactical surveillance capabilities by exploring the rapidly growing domain of very low-Earth orbit.

TacSRT

While agencies such as the National Reconnaissance Office and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency can provide high-level strategic intelligence, the Space Force has positioned the Tactical Surveillance, Reconnaissance, and Tracking program as an unclassified, easy way for organizations across the Pentagon to create task orders for recon or surveillance information that industry can fulfill within hours.

For example, leaders say TacSRT was used during the withdrawal from air bases in Niger and the construction of the Joint-Logistics-Over-the-Shore pier off Gaza in 2024 to keep U.S. forces safe.

“The demand signal is now out there, and people are seeing the positive effects,” Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman said earlier this year. “We’re going to go, ‘OK, we’ve got to go get some money for this, because we can expand this program.’”

In 2024 and 2025, the Space Force didn’t actually request funds for the Tactical Surveillance, Reconnaissance, and Tracking program. Instead, Congress added around $40 million to the program each year. When the 2026 budget request came out last month, it seemed that TacSRT had been squeezed out by other priorities, leaving it up to Congress once again to keep the program going.

Members of the House of Representatives took note.

In the defense appropriations bill recently advanced out of the House Rules Committee, lawmakers wrote that they are “concerned that funding the project solely through congressional increases does not enable the project to plan beyond the year of execution.”

As a result, they directed the Pentagon’s Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation (CAPE) office to “review the program, its mission use cases and objectives, and its contracting mechanisms; identify and make recommendations for the pilot project’s organization, its operations, and its use of contracts with commercial vendors; and identify and make recommendations.” Within six months, CAPE would have to brief Congress on its findings.

Meanwhile, lawmakers on the House Armed Services Committee working on the National Defense Authorization bill included $50 million for TacSRT in their legislation, though that funding would need to be appropriated.

They also directed the Secretary of the Air Force to make TacSRT a program of record and told the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs to “establish requirements … with respect to the tactical surveillance, reconnaissance and tracking program providing capabilities to meet the requirements of the commanders of the combatant commands.”

VLEO

Lawmakers working on both the appropriations and authorization bills are also directing the Space Force to explore uses for very low-Earth orbit, a subset of LEO that generally extends no higher than 450 kilometers above the Earth’s surface.

In the authorization bill, the HASC added $5 million directed toward “VLEO Spacecraft for Tactical SRT.” The committee also adopted an amendment offered by Rep. Jeff Crank (R-Colo.) that states it recognizes the potential of VLEO for “persistent surveillance, tactical ISR, and responsive sensing in contested environments.”

“VLEO systems can offer ground sample distances below 20 cm with modest apertures, reduced latency for real-time edge processing, and a higher degree of stealth from ground-based sensors due to lower orbital altitude and rapid transit across observation arcs,” Crank’s amendment states. “These properties are especially relevant for tactical surveillance, denied-area sensing, and time-sensitive targeting.”

The amendment directs the Secretary of the Air Force, in consultation with the Chief of Space Operations and the director of the NRO, to study the technology, potential uses, costs, and risks associated with VLEO and provide recommendations and a briefing to lawmakers by March 2026.

In a separate amendment to the defense appropriations bill, Crank is proposing adding $1 million to the budget “for the development of a Very Low Earth Orbit Persistent Surveillance System.” That amendment has cleared the House Rules Committee and will now be considered on the floor, alongside dozens of other proposed amendments.

The VLEO market is poised to explode in the coming years, analysts say, and the ability to conduct better Earth observation is a key reason why. Yet the orbit is also challenging in that atmospheric drag constantly threatens to pull satellites back down to Earth.

In a Small Business Innovation Research solicitation released earlier this year, the Space Force asked companies for “novel propulsion systems” to keep satellites in VLEO. By doing so, the solicitation noted, the service hopes to unlock sustained operations in VLEO for missions like “intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance (ISR), communications, and space domain awareness.” The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has also funded efforts to develop propulsion tech for VLEO.

House Makes Moves to Block Pentagon from Canceling E-7 Wedgetail

July 15, 2025 | By Rachel S. Cohen

House lawmakers are moving to keep the Air Force’s E-7 Wedgetail development program alive after the Pentagon announced plans to wind it down in the coming years.

During its markup of the annual defense policy bill July 15, the House Armed Services Committee tacked on an amendment from Rep. Donald Norcross (D-N.J.) that would block the Defense Department from using 2026 funding to end the Air Force’s E-7 prototyping contract with Boeing or to shut down production of the airborne target-tracking jet.

One day earlier, the powerful House Rules Committee also advanced an $831.5 billion defense spending package for 2026 that would bar the military from using federal dollars to pause or end pursuit of a Wedgetail fleet, or from preparing to do so. The bill similarly stops defense officials from moving money for the E-7 to fund another program.

Together, the measures illustrate Congress’ willingness to push back on the Trump administration’s decision to abandon one of the Air Force’s highest-priority acquisitions. If the provisions become law, the E-7 would become the latest example of the Pentagon and the executive branch’s frequent struggles to win congressional approval for major inventory changes.

Wedgetails—and their predecessor, the E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System—can spot incoming missiles and enemy aircraft from afar and direct the movement of other air assets accordingly. Instead of replacing the decades-old E-3s with the E-7, already flown by multiple U.S. allies, the Pentagon’s latest budget request would turn to Navy aircraft and then satellites to perform the moving target indication mission instead.

The Air Force had previously sought to buy a pair of bespoke E-7s, modified to meet the U.S. military’s unique requirements, for $2.6 billion before ramping up to a fleet of 26 operational jets. The service was slated to begin receiving them in fiscal 2028.

Proponents of the new fleet—including a bevy of former four-star generals who made their concerns public last week—argue space-based tracking isn’t mature enough to meet the U.S. military’s short-term need. Critics say the Wedgetail is too vulnerable to advanced air defenses wielded by the same militaries it’s designed to watch.

Despite their tacit approval of continuing the E-7 buy, House Rules members stopped short of allowing lawmakers to bolster the program with more money. The committee declined to add an amendment from Norcross, the highest-ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services tactical air and land forces panel, and Rep. Marilyn Strickland (D-Wash.) that would have brought next year’s funding for the E-7 program to nearly $800 million—a $300 million increase over the House’s original proposal.

A spokesperson for Norcross said the amendment was left out of the final package that the full House will vote on because it wasn’t deemed “in order,” or appropriate, to include with the bill.

The spending boost would have ensured House authorizers and appropriators are in lockstep in their support for the E-7 program, after the armed services committee released legislation last week green-lighting $799.7 million to continue prototyping. That’s four times as much money as the Trump administration requested for Wedgetails this year.

Without the tweak, the House proposal puts $500 million toward the Wedgetail effort to sustain airborne early warning capability while new options mature. The measure now heads to the House floor for a vote by the full chamber.

It’s unclear whether the Senate will back the decision to end the E-7 buy. Senate appropriators haven’t yet released a Pentagon budget blueprint for 2026, and the Senate Armed Services Committee hasn’t published the full text of the defense policy bill it approved July 11.

Space Force Unit that Tracked Iranian Missiles Earns New Honor

July 14, 2025 | By Matthew Cox

The Guardians of the 11th Space Warning Squadron were honored as the top U.S. Space Force unit for 2024 for their role in thwarting Iranian missile barrages last year.

The Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies selected the 11th SWS for the first-ever General Atomics Space Force Unit of the Year largely for unit’s the precise early warning of incoming missiles, which helped Air Force fighter pilots thousands of miles away launch to destroy hundreds of incoming Iranian missiles aimed at Israel in April and October of 2024.

The new award follows the Mitchell Institute’s annual General Atomics Remotely Piloted Aircraft Squadron of the Year award and seeks to recognize the achievements of Space Force units that often operate in the shadows from bases in the U.S. to deliver critical capabilities to front line warfighters.

When Iran began to launch missiles on April 13, alarms were set off at the 11th SWS and 2nd SWS operation centers. Just one missile will trigger an alarm that sounds “ding, ding, ding,” and before the attack was over, those alarms rang out 300 times.

Crews of a half dozen Guardians scurried to track each missile, verify the data, and pass it along as quickly as possible.

Capt. Abigail Flanner, weapons officer for the 11th, recalled how her teammates worked under extreme pressure in a recent episode of the Mitchell Institute’s Aerospace Advantage podcast.

“Those were both unprecedented attacks; we saw hundreds of missiles in a matter of minutes, and that really required us to look at how we’re doing our job,” Flannery said. “It really pushed our squadron to just figure out how [to] best tackle this new kind of threat … to make sure we’re providing that missile warning and missile defense that we need to be.”

Many of the Guardians proving themselves that day were newbies, not long out of high school, said Crew Chief Sgt. Jonathan Stark.

“This is their first responsibility right after high school, and we’re asking a lot of them,” Stark said. “And it’s just amazing to see how patient they are and how ready to accomplish the mission, and just how fired up they get for a mission.”

Throughout 2024, the 11th SWS reported some 2,700 missile launches, evaluated game-changing battlefield technologies, and developed courses of action for responding to large-scale missile salvos. Their work that increased on-time warning by 69 percent, according to their awards package.

Based at Buckley Space Force Base, Colo., the 11th traces its roots to Operation Desert Storm, where it was first created to provide early warning of Iraqi Scud missile launches. Today, it operates the Space-Based Infrared Systems satellite constellation and the Overhead Persistent Infra-Red Battlespace Awareness Center.

The 11th is responsible for “so much more than missile warning and tracking,” said the squadron’s commander, Lt. Col. Amanda Manship. It also evaluates emerging capabilities from Space Systems Command and sometimes delivers those capabilities “within days” to meet combatant commanders’ urgent battlefield requirements, she said.

During Iran’s April attack, the 11th was evaluating the next generation ground architecture for space based missile warning, known as the Future Operation Resilient Ground Evolution, or FORGE. That system will eventually replace the Space Awareness Global Exploitation, or SAGE, system, providing a scalable framework capable of handling greater volumes of missile launches more quickly, even while under cyber attack.

“We were actually in a trial period during the April attacks … and my team not only was trying to assess this new system, but put it to the test under literal fire,” Manship said. “The team did great adapting to the new system and the new way it operated while still meeting the objectives of missile warning and tracking.”

The 11th is the first unit to receive the GA Space Force Unit of the Year award. The Mitchell Institute spent more than a year working with Space Force staff to develop the judging criteria and other aspects of the award, said Charles Galbreath, senior resident fellow for the institute’s Space Power Center of Excellence. Units compete on the basis of how effectively they accomplish their mission, their impact on the overall force, and the ways they demonstrate innovation.

Manship said she was surprised when the 11th was selected, considering the caliber of talent throughout the Space Force. When she was able to share the news with her team, Manship said, she felt like a “proud mama hen” staring into their faces and seeing the “looks of proudness on all of their faces.”

The 11th will get to keep and display their trophy for a year, until it’s time for someone else to win. The trophy is decorated with the core values of the Space Force—character, commitment, connection and courage.

Now, as Manship prepares for her change of command, she said she sees those values reflected in her Guardians daily.

“I see it every single day with all of them,” she said, “regardless of rank, regardless of position. And they’re killing it.”

Carlyle ‘Smitty’ Harris, Vietnam POW Who Originated ‘Tap Code,’ Dies

July 14, 2025 | By John A. Tirpak

Retired Air Force Col. Carlyle “Smitty” Harris, who introduced the “tap code” used by prisoners of war to communicate from their separate cells during the Vietnam War, died July 6 at the age of 96.

Harris was shot down over North Vietnam on April 4, 1965, while flying an attack run against the Than Hoa bridge in an F-105 during the Rolling Thunder campaign. He was soon captured and was among the first American flyers imprisoned during the war. He survived nearly eight years of interrogation, torture, solitary confinement, and malnutrition—his weight plummeted from 160 to 90 pounds during that period.

Unable to use Morse Code on the concrete walls of their cells—because there was no way to make a “dash” noise—Harris and the other first three POWs worked out the Tap Code, which he remembered from a book about World War II prisoners of war. It used a five-by-five grid for the alphabet, which allows each letter to be represented by fewer than five taps (C and K shared the same grid square). Prisoners familiar with the code passed it on to new arrivals, despite the risk of severe punishment for doing so.

The code was crucial for communication, maintaining morale, and providing a means for the prisoners to feel less isolated and resist their captors. Harris told an interviewer that he would use the code when sweeping, or even coughing, since communications between prisoners was usually forbidden.

During his captivity, Harris was imprisoned at the infamous “Hanoi Hilton” as well as the Son Tay POW camp and several other locations.

Repatriated during “Operation Homecoming” in 1973, Harris recovered from his ordeal for a year at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala. While there, he completed Air War College, recertified as a pilot, and earned a Master’s in Business Administration from Auburn University in Montgomery. He remained on the Air War College faculty as a curriculum planner until his retirement in July 1979. During that time, he compiled the basis of his autobiography, “Tap Code: The Epic Survival Tale of a Vietnam POW and the Secret Code that Changed Everything,” largely about his experiences as a POW. Though he never planned to release the work, which he described as a “chronicle,” Harris bowed to long family pressure and published the book in 2019 to favorable critical reviews.

He retired from the Air Force having received two Silver Stars, three awards of the Legion of Merit, the Distinguished Flying Cross, two awards of the Bronze Star with V for Valor, two Air Medals, two awards of the Purple Heart, and two Commendation Medals. After the Air Force, Harris completed a law degree and practiced law in Mississippi, also managing a law firm and serving as a bank executive, while serving on numerous community charitable committees and organizations.

Ret. Col. Carlyle “Smitty” Harris, former Vietnam prisoner of war, and Ret. Lt. Col. Richard “Sonic” Johnson, former Columbus Air Force Base member, talk about Harris’ memorabilia Sept. 18, 2020, in Tupelo, Miss. U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Davis Donaldson

Harris was honored by the city of Tupelo, Miss. in 2015, which installed an F-105 painted to look like the one Harris flew in Vietnam in Veterans Memorial Park. Placards around the aircraft relate the tale of Harris’ mission and capture. In 2021, a post office in Tupelo was named after Harris by Congress, and the Smithsonian displays some of the artifacts of Harris’ internment, such as his tin cup.

Rep. Trent Kelly (R-Miss.) said that Harris was both a national and a local treasure.

“He was an amazing man and an amazing hero,” Kelly said. Harris “endured eight years of imprisonment under awful conditions” because “he was … a man of compassion and positive attitude.”

F-15EX Fighters Deploy to Japan for Training as Kadena Prepares for New Jets

July 14, 2025 | By Chris Gordon

Two F-15EX Eagle II fighters arrived for training at Kadena Air Base, Japan, July 12 as the base gears up to receive a permanent fleet of the jets next spring.

The two F-15EXs deployed from the 85th Test and Evaluation Squadron at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., to “conduct integration and familiarization training with local units” in Japan, Kadena’s 18th Wing said in a news release.

The Air Force has rotated fighters, including fifth-generation F-35s and F-22s and fourth-generation F-15Es and F-16s, through Kadena since 2022.

That’s when the Air Force announced plans to withdraw the 48 aging F-15C/D Eagles, based on Okinawa for the past five decades, and eventually replace them with 36 F-15EX Eagle IIs, the latest model of the jet. There has been a continuous U.S. fighter jet presence in Okinawa, a strategically important location some 400 miles east of Taiwan, since the 1950s.

“This short-term visit marks a key milestone in the Department of Defense’s ongoing effort to modernize U.S. airpower in the region and deter against evolving threats,” the wing’s release stated. “It also prepares Kadena personnel for the arrival and future sustainment of the F-15EX in Spring 2026.”

The 18th Wing declined to provide further details on what the training will entail in response to queries from Air & Space Forces Magazine.

Air Force leaders have expressed confidence that the transition to the Eagle II will be smooth, even as the service moves towards shorter deployments to smaller, more dispersed operating locations under the agile combat employment model.

“The airplanes are new; the pilots, crews, and maintainers are not necessarily new,” Pacific Air Forces commander Gen. Kevin B. Schneider told Air & Space Forces Magazine last fall. “There will be some learning as it comes to putting a new platform into these environments, and we’ll probably learn a few lessons about the capabilities of the F-15EX … [but] I don’t think it’s going to be a significant transition.”

The visiting test F-15EXs can help ease that transition, the wing said.

“Bringing the F-15EX here gives our pilots and maintainers the chance to train in the environment where they’ll operate it daily,” Brig. Gen. Nicholas Evans, the outgoing 18th Wing commander, said in a release. “This visit ensures we can seamlessly integrate the aircraft into our mission sets and maintain the airpower advantages needed in this region.”

Brig. Gen. John Gallemore took over command of the 18th Wing from Evans July 14.

“This wing plays a critical role in safeguarding peace, strengthening our alliance with Japan, and standing ready to defend our shared interests in the region,” Gallemore said during the change-of-command ceremony.

The Air Force is modernizing its fleet of permanently stationed fighters elsewhere in Japan as well. In June, Misawa Air Base in Japan began transferring its F-16s to Osan Air Base in South Korea. Air Force officials said the move makes way for the F-35 Lightning II jets Misawa is slated to receive next spring, around the same time as Kadena will get its new aircraft. Osan, meanwhile, is using the F-16s to replace its retiring A-10 Thunderbolt II attack planes.

The Air Force plans to rotate a mix of fighters through Misawa, as it has done with Kadena, during the transition. Once complete, the 51st Fighter Wing will have given up 36 F-16s for 48 F-35s.

Misawa will be the Air Force’s second overseas base to permanently host the stealth jets, following RAF Lakenheath in England. The Marines have also deployed F-35Bs to Japan at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni.

Meanwhile, Kadena will have the latest fourth-generation fighters.

“Outfitted with cutting-edge avionics, advanced weapon systems, and expanded offensive and defensive capabilities, the F-15EX ensures Kadena remains postured to address the dynamic security environment in the Indo-Pacific region,” the 18th Wing said.

Air Force: Test B-21s Could Fly Combat Missions, Northrop Can Expand Production at Plant 42

July 14, 2025 | By John A. Tirpak

A production expansion of the Air Force’s next-generation bomber, the B-21 Raider, which is planned in the service’s fiscal 2026 budget, could be accommodated largely within aircraft manufacturer Northrop Grumman’s existing Palmdale, Calif., plant, according to the Air Force. The service also said that at least two of the bombers will be flying in 2026. While used for testing, they can be quickly configured for combat operations if necessary.

Both the Air Force and the Congress’s Reconciliation bill for 2026 include funding for a B-21 production increase. Asked by Air & Space Forces Magazine whether the increase could be done at existing facilities, an Air Force spokesperson said the “planned production expansion will be accomplished within the Northrop Grumman Palmdale, CA campus, as well as some Tier 1 supplier locations.”

Northrop Grumman referred all questions about the program to the Air Force.

Northrop builds the B-21 at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, Calif., in or adjacent to facilities that were used to build the B-2 in the 1990s. While the service did not name specific “Tier 1” suppliers that will also expand production, the Air Force identified a partial list of those suppliers in 2016. They include BAE Systems in Nashua, N.H.; Collins Aerospace in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; GKN Aerospace in St. Louis, Mo.; Janicki Industries in Sedro-Woolley, Wash., and Spirit AeroSystems in Wichita, Kan. RTX’s Pratt & Whitney division also makes the B-21’s engines.

In previous answers to B-21 budget questions, the Air Force said it is “committed to the successful fielding of the B-21 and is investing in the infrastructure necessary to support an increased yearly production capacity.” The increased spending is a “proactive measure” that will ensure “the long-term health and efficiency of the production line, enabling us to deliver this critical capability to the warfighter.”

The 2026 budget request—counting research and development as well as production—totals $10.3 billion for the B-21. Of that, the reconciliation bill provided $4.5 billion to be earmarked for expanded manufacturing. None of the budget documents discussed how much faster B-21s will be built, by when, or up to what total.

The production rate of the B-21 is classified, but is believed to be 7-8 aircraft per year.

The Air Force reiterated that “specific expansion details are not available” currently in its answers on July 11

The Air Force’s comments suggest that the majority of the funds allocated for increased B-21 production capacity can be allocated to additional tooling and workforce development at existing facilities, rather than constructing new factories that require extensive security, cooling, and specialized tooling.

Northrop said in the spring that it had taken a $477 million charge on the B-21 program to cover a “process change” in production to cover “a higher production rate.”

The Air Force has only said its B-21 production target is “at least 100” aircraft. They are intended to replace the B-2 and B-1 in the early 2030s. Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., is planned to be the B-21 schoolhouse and first operational base. Military construction at Ellsworth has been underway for three years to prepare for the arrival of the new aircraft.

When the B-21 contract was awarded to Northrop in 2015—as the then-“Long-Range Strike Bomber” program—the Air Force said the first aircraft would be flying in “the mid-2020s” and that these aircraft would be “usable assets.” Service leaders at the time stated that this meant early B-21s would be capable of conducting combat operations if called upon.

Asked if these conditions are still in force—that initial aircraft could be modified for combat quickly by removing the nose boom and other instrumentation—the Air Force responded in the affirmative.

“Yes, the program is built on producing robust test aircraft that are as close to production aircraft configuration as possible,” the spokesperson said.

The service also said that “there will be at least two test-configured aircraft in FY26,” but acknowledged that the B-21 budget tables have “errors.” The service did not say when it expects to correct the numbers in the budget documents.

Whether those first two B-21s constitute initial operational capability is still unclear.

“Air Force Global Strike Command holds final authority on determining when B-21 has achieved IOC,” a service spokesperson said, “which represents when relevant operational capability is available to Combatant Commanders. The specific criteria are classified.”

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin may not be on board with sharply accelerating the B-21 buy. He told the Senate Appropriations Committee in June that the government shouldn’t be “overly zealous” about accelerating production “beyond a certain production rate.” In last year’s budget testimony he said the service may wish to buy out the 100 or so planned B-21s and move on to new technologies.

Tom Jones, Northrop’s corporate vice president and head of its aeronautics sector, said at the Center for a New American Security in June that increasing capacity generically “really comes down to, in the case of aircraft … it’s the factories … it’s floor space, it’s tooling. Once you get that running—and your supply chain—I think you have a lot of ability to look at how you can scale, ramp production, surge.” He argued that the defense industry writ large would probably invest more in surge production capacity, but this is currently not an allowable cost in contracts. Changing that would expand capacity, he said.

House, Senate Unveil Competing Proposals for 2026 Budget

July 11, 2025 | By Greg Hadley

Lawmakers from the House and Senate laid out competing versions of the annual defense policy bill on July 11, with vastly different potential outcomes for some of the Air Force’s most embattled programs.

The President Budget request submitted late last month includes funding for only 24 F-35A fighters, about half what the Air Force has acquired in each of the last several years. It also zeroes out funding for the E-7 Wedgetail airborne early warning and control aircraft. A group of retired Air Force generals, including six former Air Force chiefs of staff, signed a letter decrying those cuts and urging Congress to fund 75 new F-35As and to restore E-7 funding.

So far neither the Senate Armed Services Committee nor the House Armed Services Committee seem poised to adopt that plan.

The Senate committee, on a bipartisan vote, advanced its version of the 2026 National Defense Authorization bill, which authorizes—but does not fund—10 more F-35A fighter jets than the 24 the Pentagon requested for the Air Force. The committee’s plan bars the Air Force from retiring its remaining fleet of more than 100 A-10 close air support aircraft, however, jets the Air Force contends are not survivable in future peer conflict.

The House Armed Services Committee, meanwhile, unveiled its initial draft of the authorization bill, called the Chairman’s mark, kicking off a lengthy amendment process that will unfold next week. The Chairman’s version is silent on the matter of F-35s, but would authorize an extra $600 million to save the E-7 Wedgetail airborne early warning and control aircraft. The HASC mark also endorses stripping out $200 million from development of the F-35 Block 4 upgrade and $380 million in development and procurement for the KC-46 tanker, citing delays with each.

It will take months to finalize the authorization measure. Considered must-pass legislation, it will require the two chambers to first complete their respective versions and then to meet in conference to hash out differences.

E-7 Wedgetail

The E-7 is “a priority for the chairman and the ranking member”—Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) and Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), according to a senior congressional staffer who briefed reporters on the HASC bill. The chairman’s mark would add $600 million to the nearly $200 million the Air Force requested for E-7 to wind down the program in 2026. The combined total of nearly $800 million would be the most invested to date in the E-7 program, which is supposed to yield a fleet of operational airborne early warning and battle management aircraft around the end of this decade.

The Department of Defense has argued that it can cut those aircraft and rely instead on space-based solutions now in development. But observers, including the retired Air Force 4-stars, questioned the wisdom of giving up a known capability for something that is as yet unproven. Space-based moving target indications is a technology Air Force and Space Force officials believe will be viable eventually, but could prove vulnerable to jamming and other countermeasures.

Notably, the HASC markup does nothing to scale back the Pentagon’s space-based investments in air and ground moving target indication, enabling that development work to continue.

At a July 10 media roundtable, former Air Force Space Command and U.S. Strategic Command boss Gen. Kevin P. Chilton said both efforts are needed. “There’s a tension here between deployment of assets that support the terrestrial fight and the real and present need for assets in space that support the space superiority fight,” he said. “And so there is going to be—there is—a huge demand signal on these low-Earth constellations that we want to put up. And so I’m a huge proponent of them, but I’m also a huge proponent of an air-breathing capability in the air-breathing domain to be able to do these same mission sets, whether they be reconnaissance, or GMTI, or AMTI.”

The Senate Armed Services Committee, in its version of the authorization bill, made no mention of the E-7 in a lengthy executive summary. The full text of the legislation has yet to be released.

A F-35A Lightning II assigned to the 95th Fighter Squadron soars through the skies during exercise Checkered Flag 25-2 at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., May 14, 2025. **U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Zeeshan Naeem**

F-35

In a list of 15 provisions in the bill affecting Air Force programs, the SASC executive summary notes that its version authorizes procurement for 34 F-35As. But while that’s 10 more than the Pentagon request of 24, it’s down from 44 in the 2025 budget. Worse, it’s far below what’s needed to rebuild a shrinking Air Force fighter fleet, the former Air Force leaders said.

The Air Force has argued for years that it needs to buy 72 new fighters a year to gradually reduce the average age of its fighters. But former Air Combat Command boss Gen. John M. Loh said even that number might not be enough to match current demand for airpower.

“We have desperately few and so 72 might not be the right number,” Loh said. “But it is, in my opinion, a minimum number to build back up the fighter force structure to deal with the threats that we face.”

Congress has already funded 21 F-15EXs in the budget reconciliation action, known as the Big Beautiful Bill Act. Along with the 24 F-35As in the President’s budget request, that would account for 45 fighters in fiscal 2026. The House committee would authorize 10 more F-35As, but it would be up to appropriators to fund those aircraft. In past years, appropriators have gone a step further and funded additional aircraft above and beyond the authorization committee numbers.

Lawmakers in both chambers have been critical of F-35 maker Lockheed Martin over program delays and cost matters. The HASC chairman’s mark signaled that displeasure by cutting $208.7 million from F-35A research and development, specifically citing “Block 4 delays.” Block 4 encompasses a series of upgrades intended to enhance F-35 capabilities, but software and other delays have dogged the program for more than a year. On the other hand, instead of looking fund future capabilities, the HASC mark focuses on boosting existing F-35 readiness, proposing to invest an extra $250 million for spare parts.

A-10 and KC-46

The Air Force’s tortured history of trying, and failing, to retire the A-10 has dragged on for nearly two decades, and continues to be a frequent source of congressional angst. The A-10 “Warthog” is as beloved by ground-pounders as it is reviled by air experts, who see it as slow, outdated, and not survivable against advanced air defenses. Much of the fleet is in the Air National Guard, which has fierce support in Congress.

Lawmakers had seemed to accept A-10 cuts in recent years, but this year they appear poised to hold the line against the Air Force’s plan to accelerate divestments and retire the entire fleet in 2026. The Senate version takes a hard line, proposing to ensure the inventory cannot “drop below 103 aircraft in FY26,” according to the executive summary. And while the House chairman’s mark did not touch the A-10, the senior congressional official told reporters that several HASC members have strong feelings on the issue and are likely to introduce an amendment.

Another fault line between the House and Senate versions concerns the KC-46 tanker. After years of delivery pauses, deficiencies, and slow progress on resolving some of the stickiest issues, the Air Force appears to double down on the Pegasus in its fiscal 2026 budget request, continuing current purchases and paving the way for additional KC-46 buys once the current contract is through.

House lawmakers appear unconvinced that the Air Force is on the right track. The chairman’s mark would cut the authorization for KC-46 by $300 million, potentially trimming the buy by one or two aircraft next year. The House measure also proposes trimming research and development for new KC-46 capabilities by $80 million, citing a “program delay.”