Air

Two B-1B Lancers returned to Europe for a bomber task force flight on April 7, shortly after USAF bombers returned home from the continent after a deployment. The Lancers from Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., flew directly to the Aegean Sea and returned home in ...
The Air Force's new mission statement is familiar, all-encompassing, and joins two parallel aspects of the service's 74-year history: “To fly, fight, and win … Airpower anytime, anywhere.” The new mission statement focuses on air alone, now that the Space Force is independent, and emerged ...
The Air Force is experimenting with the use of 5G technology to provide mobile, distributed command and control and it eventually hopes to be able to do away altogether with fixed location air operations centers, according to the service’s deputy chief technology officer. "Today’s air ...
The Air Force unveiled the name of its newest fighter jet—the F-15EX Eagle II—during an April 7 ceremony at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. ANG Director Lt. Gen. Michael A. Loh said during the ceremony the F-15EX’s improvements will be key to its mission of ...
The Air Force demonstrated the successful launch of a drone by a larger remotely piloted aircraft on March 26, with the XQ-58A Valkyrie releasing a small UAS from its own internal weapons bay. The flight test, the sixth for the Valkyrie, marked the first time ...
The Air Force is sending its two OC-135B Open Skies aircraft to the boneyard after the U.S. withdrew from the treaty, even though it's not clear whether the new Biden administration will rejoin the monitoring agreement with Russia. Because there is no longer “a mission ...
The first booster flight test of the Air Force’s AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon failed April 5. In a release issued April 6, the service acknowledged the failure is a “setback” for hypersonic progress, but said the test still provided “valuable information” for the program’s ...
The Air Force has long faced a silent crisis: It can’t train and retain enough pilots. And now, challenged to confront peer adversaries, rather than the insurgents it’s been engaging for the last 20 years, even the pilots the service can train aren’t getting the ...