The Air Force was forced to make many “tough choices” as it put together its Fiscal 2015 budget request, including the termination of the F-16 Combat Avionics Programmed Extension Suite, or CAPES, program, said Maj. Gen. Jim Martin, USAF deputy...

The extent to which the F-16 fleet will be upgraded under the Fiscal 2015 budget proposal is not completely clear. “We’re still looking into that,” Undersecretary Eric Fanning told defense reporters in Washington, D.C., Tuesday. “But, there will be modifications...

Though the Air Force would like to phase out the A-10 close air support aircraft, it will continue buying new wings for the fleet until Congress permits otherwise, service Undersecretary Eric Fanning said Tuesday. USAF is prohibited by the National...

The Air Force’s five-year Future Years Defense Program includes about $600 million to begin replacing the service’s 40-to-50-year-old T-38 trainers, said Maj. Gen. Jim Martin, USAF deputy assistant secretary for budget. Speaking Tuesday at an AFA-sponsored, Air Force breakfast event,...

Lt. Gen. John Hyten, vice commander of Air Force Space Command at Peterson AFB, Colo., has been nominated for a fourth star and for assignment as AFSPC commander. If the Senate approves his nomination, he would replace Gen. William Shelton,...

There are some concerns about the long-term use of the Northern Distribution Network now that tensions with Russia over the country’s military operations in Ukraine are escalating, Air Mobility Command boss Gen. Paul Selva told Senate legislators on Tuesday. Selva,...

NATO is deploying E-3 AWACs to monitor Russian military activity in neighboring Ukraine from the confines of allied airspace over Poland and Romania, alliance officials announced on Monday. "All AWACS surveillance flights will take place solely over Alliance territory and no flights will take place over Ukraine," according to a March 10 statement from NATO's AWACS component. Air Force F-16s also will deploy to Lask AB, Poland, to exercise with Polish air force fighters in the coming days, Defense Department officials announced the same day. "What we are doing is reassuring our allies that we are there for them," said DOD spokesman Army Col. Steve Warren in a release. "This is an important time for us to make it crystal clear to all our allies and partners in the region that the United States of America stands by them," he added. US Air Forces in Europe-Air Forces Africa deployed additional F-15s to Lithuania to augment its NATO air policing rotation last week, and Navy destroyer USS Truxton began exercises with allies in the Black Sea this week. (See also Bracing in the Baltics.)

Navy Vice Adm. Michael Rogers, who has been nominated to lead US Cyber Command and the National Security Agency, fielded plenty of questions from Senate legislators Tuesday over NSA’s collection of telephone metadata, as well as reports of Iranian cyber...

Pentagon probes into components used in major US weapons systems uncovered Chinese materials used on some F-16 and B-1B aircraft—notably in radar systems, Reuters reported. The Defense Department issued waivers to allow Northrop Grumman to temporarily use Chinese sourced rare-earth...

The Defense Department has requested $13.3 billion for intelligence programs in the Fiscal 2015 base budget. That’s a significant drop from the $14.6 billion requested in DOD’s Fiscal 2014 base request. While DOD “determined that releasing this figure does not...

The Pacific Air Forces held its first AirSea Battle forum with the US Pacific Fleet at JB Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, last week. “Sometimes fiscal constraints drive people to think separately; we need to fight that urge and think more cooperatively,”...