The crew of an AC-130J on June 22 received Distinguished Flying Crosses and Air Medals for protecting helicopters evacuating wounded American and Afghan forces during a September 2019 fight in Afghanistan. The Ghostrider, callsign Shadow 71, provided about two hours of constant close air support ...
Air
The State Department has approved the potential sale of a dozen F-16 jets, plus AGM-84 Harpoon missiles and AIM-9X Sidewinder missiles, to the Philippines, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced June 24. All told, the sales would total up to nearly $2.9 billion, with the ...
Intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance aircraft are among the Air Force's most-requested assets worldwide, but the service wants to cut back the number of combat air patrols it supports with ISR on any given day so it can free up funds in the fiscal 2022 budget ...
The Air Force’s training unit for the F-22 is one step closer to a permanent home, as the service approved Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va., as the new location for the unit following the completion of an environmental impact study. But while the study and approval ...
The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan continues on pace, and though Taliban violence has increased—with the group taking more districts from the Kabul-based government—there are no plans to slow the drawdown yet. U.S. Central Command said June 22 that more than 50 percent of the withdrawal ...
The Air Force’s plan to cut 42 A-10 Warthogs in fiscal 2022 targets Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., and the Indiana Air National Guard, but while those wings would lose Warthogs, they would pick up new missions. The Air Force wants to cut the Warthog ...
Flying hours dropped in the Air Force's fiscal 2022 budget request because weapon system sustainment costs ballooned, senior Air Force officials told lawmakers June 22. They said the service would value Congress adding money to the budget to help with weapon system sustainment, which in ...
The Pentagon is reportedly planning to draw down the number of fighter squadrons in the Middle East while also withdrawing missile defense systems as part of a broad shift in the U.S. military’s force posture in the region. Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III informed ...
B-52s from Barksdale Air Force, La., on June 18 finished the latest bomber task force deployment to Europe in a dramatic fashion, flying two separate long-distance training missions in the Arctic and in Africa. On June 17, B-52s that were part of the task force ...