More Mission, Less Air Force

After a long period in which munitions were almost an afterthought and sacrificed to pay for other priorities, the Air Force needs to focus on them in order to have the right “package” of capabilities for future conflicts, Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. said June 7.

The 14th Weather Squadron is taking on a new mission performed by no other unit in the military: predicting what the climate might look like 10 years from now, with calculations that include the effect of greenhouse gasses.

Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall is fond of saying his top three priorities are “China, China, and China.” His new reading list, published June 8 with a message to Airmen and Guardians, reflects those priorities—every one of the 19 selections deals with some aspect of China.

Over the past few months, the Air Force has seen something of a surge in “elephant walks”—large numbers of aircraft lining the runway to showcase airpower and practice generating massive amounts of force in a short timeframe. But the latest one, at Osan Air Base, South Korea, was particularly impressive, featuring much…

An Air Force C-17 transport jet recently tested a new technology that could help aviators stay on course even if the satellite-based Global Positioning System (GPS) that much of modern-day aviation relies on is compromised.

As the Air Force struggles to ease its pilot shortage, it can still fill all its cockpits, Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. said June 7. But that has come at the expense of staff jobs normally assigned to pilots, leading the service to reconsider whether those staff…

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Brown cautioned that America must align its strategic goals with the deployment of military assets. “You can make a decision in a moment not realizing what the impact is going to be further down that line,” Brown said during a Mitchell…

Brig. Gen. Christopher R. Amrhein—an experienced tanker and trainer pilot who helped oversee the Air Force’s flying training enterprise—took command of the Air Force Recruiting Service on June 2. Amrhein succeeds Maj. Gen. Ed Thomas, who led AFRS starting June 2020 through a tumultuous time in recruiting. Between the COVID-19 pandemic,…

Gas is king in the vast expanse of the Pacific. And as the Pentagon has sought to build up its capability to deter China, the Department of Defense has undergone a major rethink about how to get fuel to the region. At the heart of the effort is the U.S. Transportation…