The Congressional Defense Establishment

Guardsmen to Guardians: New NDAA Gives Space Force What It Wants

Dec. 9, 2024

The Space Force is feeling the love from Congress, which approved its biggest wishes, such as converting space-oriented Air National Guard units into Space Force ones, in the compromise 2025 National Defense Authorization bill unveiled Dec. 7.

JSE: How Air Force Aims to Get More Pilots into ‘World’s Best F-35 Simulator’

Dec. 9, 2024

The Air Force is scaling up the Joint Simulation Environment to enable large-scale mission training possible for F-35 and other combat pilots at bases all over the country and even overseas.

What’s in the New NDAA: Pay Raises, No F-22 Divestments, and … Beards?

Dec. 9, 2024

Senate and House lawmakers released their compromise 2025 National Defense Authorization bill on Dec. 7—the proposed legislation would give a 14.5 percent pay raise to junior enlisted Airmen and Guardians and prohibit the Air Force from retiring any F-15E or F-22 fighters.

B-52s, F-15s, and A-10s Conduct Massive Anti-ISIS Airstrikes in Syria After Fall of Assad

Dec. 8, 2024

The U.S. military conducted a punishing series of airstrikes against Islamic State militants on Dec. 8 following the sudden demise of the ruling Assad regime. U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortress bombers, F-15E Strike Eagles, and A-10 Thunderbolt II attack aircraft conducted dozens of airstrikes against Islamic State leaders, fighters, and…

‘The Baton Will Soon Be Passed’: Austin Touts B-21 Bomber as Part of Legacy

Dec. 8, 2024

Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III touted the Air Force’s B-21 Raider bomber and the military’s new command and control technologies in a major address at the Reagan National Defense Forum on the Biden administration’s legacy in national security.

PACAF Boss: As China Expands Reach of Missiles and Warplanes, US Needs ‘Inside Force’

Dec. 8, 2024

The People’s Republic of China is expanding the range of its missiles and aircraft farther and farther beyond its shores, causing the U.S. Air Force to double down on its commitment to agile combat employment and focus on the complex logistics of a potential Indo-Pacific fight, the head of Pacific…

As Space Gets More Crowded, Space Force Needs New AI Tools to Keep Up: Experts

Dec. 6, 2024

Machine learning AI (AI/ML) is quite different from the generative AI large language models that have captured headlines and public imagination in the last two years, but it is vital to help human analysts sift through and make sense of the huge amount of data coming off of and about the…

Meet Two of the Air Force’s Newest Warrant Officers

Dec. 6, 2024

The Air Force’s first new warrant officers in 66 years graduated Dec. 6 at a ceremony at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., the inaugural class of the new Warrant Officer Training School.

Lockheed’s Skunk Works Gets New Boss

Dec. 5, 2024

O.J. Sanchez, a former Air Force F-22 pilot and currently the vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin’s Integrated Fighter Group, will take over as head of the company’s Skunk Works advanced products unit in January. He succeeds John Clark, who is taking on a new position as the…

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