The View From Langley

The new defense reconciliation bill includes $7.2 billion for Air Force and Navy aviation accounts, almost half of which will buy more F-15EXs. While electronic warfare, drones, connectivity and airlift all get attention, the F-35 was conspicuously absent from the package, with no explanation given.

Young Air Force and Space Force recruits in Basic Military Training will not be trading in their non-firing M4 carbines for live M4s anytime soon. After leaders previously said they wanted to make the switch, Maj. Gen. Wolfe Davidson said it may not be necessary for Airmen to carry real…

The 86th Operations Group at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, is pioneering a new program that could help improve mental health outcomes for aviators across the Air Force.

The heads of the House and Senate Armed Services committees have unveiled a plan for $150 billion in new defense spending, as part of a massive planned package meant to advance President Donald Trump’s agenda. The proposed bill would inject several billion dollars into major Air Force priorities like nuclear modernization, aircraft…

Boeing appears to have become to overcome the problems that led to billions in losses on fixed-price defense contracts in recent years, point the company back toward profitabily, says Boeing president and CEO Kelly Ortberg.

The Space Force is ready to start using its newest weather satellite after finishing testing and achieving initial operational capability, the service announced April 24. 

The Air Force deployed a second group of F-35s to Kadena Air Base this month, reinforcing its fighter presence at the key base in the wake of retiring all operational F-15C Eagles from the installation. The stealthy jets and Airmen from the 421st Fighter Squadron, nicknamed the “Black Widows” out…

F-16s assigned to the New Jersey Air National Guard will live forever in the popular video game Microsoft Flight Simulator, thanks to an audio producer who records aircraft sounds to help make virtual flight as realistic as possible.

The Air Force is leaning toward a less-sophisticated autonomous aircraft in the second increment of the Collaborative Combat Aircraft, the services chief futurist said. He also suggested that the next increment of CCA may be air-launched, a la the "Rapid Dragon" experiments conducted by the service in recent years.