Airmen of the 376th Air Expeditionary Wing at the Transit Center at Manas, Kyrgyzstan, on Tuesday welcomed members of the Kyrgyzstan military for an inaugural event to build ties between the two nations. During the course of the visit, the airmen took their Kyrgyz guests on tours of a KC-135 tanker and C-17 transport on the Manas flightline. They also showed them the air base’s vast fuel farm. This visit is a part of USAF’s theater security cooperation outreach activities. Manas is an important air hub for supplying US and NATO forces in Afghanistan. (Manas photo caption by SSgt. Nathan Bevier)
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.
