Thunderbirds

Lawmakers on both sides of Capitol Hill are pressing the Pentagon to get serious about the threat cheap, small drones pose to U.S. forces at home and abroad—and to put them in the hands of American troops as quickly as possible.

Lt. Gen. Stephen L. Davis, the Department of the Air Force’s top internal watchdog, has been nominated to lead Air Force Global Strike Command, which oversees the service’s bombers and intercontinental ballistic missiles. 

The Senate voted to confirm Space Force Gen. Michael A. Guetlein to his new job as “direct reporting program manager” for President Donald Trump’s Golden Dome missile defense initiative on July 17. 

U.S. Air Force F-35s recently operated from the Philippines for the first time ever as part of the latest edition of the Cope Thunder exercise.

The Senate Armed Services Committee this week released the full text of its version of the 2026 defense policy bill—often referred to as the National Defense Authorization Act—that would allow the Air Force and Space Force to spend billions of dollars more than the services had sought for next year.

Swarms of kinetic and electronic attack “Wolf Pack” munitions, operating collaboratively, could overwhelm enemy defenses, L3Harris said of its new low-cost combat aerial vehicles.

The Space Force is promoting new noncomissioned officers at a breakneck pace, as the service announced another year of sky-high rates for junior NCOs.

The Air Force’s helicopter fleet gets a major shakeup in the 2026 budget, highlighted by a decision to modify HH-60W helicopters to ferry VIPs around Washington, D.C., according to budget documents and a spokesperson.

The House Armed Services Committee on July 15 passed its draft of the 2026 defense policy bill, 55-2, in a late-night vote following nearly 14 hours of debate over hot-button issues ranging from President Donald Trump’s desire to use a Qatari jet as Air Force One to cutting military aid…