Buckley Looks at Civic Growth: The Air Force has informed officials of the city of Aurora, Colo., that plans to build civilian homes under the flight pattern used by the Colorado Air National Guard’s F-16s at Buckley Air Force Base poses a risk to the Air Guard’s flying mission, reports the Denver Post. Base spokesman John Spann told the Post that the facility is “getting more and more boxed in.” The Buckley Air Guard maintains the largest combat flying mission in the Rocky Mountain region, according to Col. Trulan Eyre, commander of the 140th Operations Group at Buckley. He told the Post, “We aren’t drawing a line in the sand, but we need to make people aware: You buy here, you develop here, this is what you’re in for.”
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.