The Combat Cloud

The Air Force has picked Northrop Grumman over L3Harris and Lockheed Martin to develop and build the Stand-in Attack Weapon, meant to swiftly destroy enemy air defense sites and other high-value targets.

An Air Force trailblazer’s career came to a close this weekend, as Maj. Gen. Jeannie M. Leavitt, the service’s first female fighter pilot, retired after 31 years in uniform.

A sleek, futuristic, six-rotor aircraft stood behind a red ribbon at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., on Sept. 25—marking the latest milestone in the Air Force’s involvement in the “electric air taxi.” The electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft from Joby Aviation was unveiled at Edwards a full six months…

More than 100 Guardians across the globe have started wearing the Space Force’s prototype service dress uniform three times per week as part of “wear testing”—the final stage before the uniform is produced and rolled out to Guardians everywhere in 2025. 

The first five days of Basic Military Training will change to better educate trainees on sleep hygiene, stress management, nutrition, and physical training, a move which officials hope will better prepare enlisted Airmen and Guardians for the rigors of life in service.

The Space Force has a new satellite in the Indian Ocean region, ready to replace an older one. The USSF accepted the transfer of a second geostationary weather satellite (GOES) from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) after getting the transfer approval from Congress in June 2023, the service…

President Joe Biden has nominated Melissa Dalton to be undersecretary of the Air Force, the department’s No. 2 civilian job, the White House announced Sept. 21. Dalton currently serves as the assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense and hemispheric affairs, a job she has had since March 2022.

The Department of the Defense and the military services want to take more control over the massive F-35 sustainment enterprise—and are required by law to do so in 2027—but they lack a detailed plan to do so and should reassess their approach to key parts of that enterprise, according to…

The 55th Operations Group flies RC-135 jets on intelligence-gathering missions all over the world with a small fleet of just 28 aircraft.