Up From Kitty Hawk

The Air Force is extending the amount of time Airmen can spend at most enlisted ranks by two years, as the service looks to combat sluggish recruiting and balance its force structure. The High Year of Tenure (HYT) program sets limits on how long service members can spend in each grade…

The U.S. Space Force, U.S. European Command, and U.S. Africa Command activated their newest service component on Dec. 8, in an expansion of USSF’s growing reach into combatant commands.

Lawmakers want very tight oversight of the Next Generation Air Dominance fighters and Collaborative Combat Aircraft drones, demanding detailed six-month updates on their progress across a myriad of component categories, according to the 2024 compromise National Defense Authorization Act.

Starting in January, the Air Force Recruiting Service will track why applicants leave the accessions process before signing the dotted line. The goal is to understand what makes people who are interested in serving decide to leave.

The U.S., U.K., and Australia have agreed to place advanced space tracking radar sites in their countries in a major new initiative that will expand the AUKUS agreement. The three countries will host and operate the Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability (DARC), a state-of-the-art ground-based radar system by the end of…

Former British prime minister and now foreign minister David Cameron urged the U.S. Congress not to stop supporting Ukraine, saying the West has gotten a bargain in dramatically reducing Russia’s military power for a fraction of the U.S. defense budget.

The Space Force’s top enlisted ranks are poised to grow by 14 chief master sergeants and 30 senior master sergeants, the Air Force Personnel Center announced Dec. 7. Competition for the service’s E-8 grade in particular continues to grow fiercer with each passing year as more Guardians join and move…

Senate and House leaders unveiled their compromise conference report for the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act on Dec. 7—and the annual defense policy bill is poised to pump the brakes on the Air Force’s plans to retire dozens of F-15E, F-16, and F-22 fighters in the coming years. The report, a combination…

After proving last month that the Link 16 data network can broadcast from space to the ground, the director of the Space Development Agency expects to test similar connections for datalinks that are more advanced than the 1980s-era Link 16.