Defense Secretary Robert Gates, in his widely reported April 21 remarks (see above) at the Air War College, Maxwell AFB, Ala., acknowledged that the Air Force has been “in the process of constant change for decades” with, what he termed “a steady drumbeat of expeditionary operations” since the service “has been at war, more or less constantly, for 17 years.”
The Air Force has finished modifying and testing the new VC-25B Bridge aircraft that will serve as a temporary Air Force One, the service announced May 1. All that’s left now is to finish painting the jet before it starts flying this summer.