Four-Star Consolidations Coming

The Air Force will propose consolidation of its four-star general ranks, looking to reduce the dozen officers at that rank to nine or 10, with announcements possible within the next four months, a senior Air Staff official told Air Force...

Bomber Budget to Peak at $9.5 Billion

Funding for development and production of the Air Force’s Long-Range Strike Bomber, now funded at about $5 billion annually, will climb gradually to about $7 billion in fiscal year ’19, then jump up to between $9 billion and $10 billion...

The F-X … Eventually

The Pentagon’s latest 30-year aircraft plan shows Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps fighter/attack inventories dropping from 3,209 today to 2,937 by Fiscal 2020, and plateauing at about that level through fiscal year ’24. The plan is supposed to accompany...

Combat Ready Raptors, Anywhere in Three Days

Pacific Air Forces F-22s tested a new flash deployment concept known as “Rapid Raptor,” departing for a bare-base with everything needed to launch combat sorties within 72 hours aboard a single C-17. Raptor deployments were previously limited to established bases,...

Preparing for Pegasus

Construction will begin this year on KC-46A facilities at Altus AFB, Okla., future home of the tanker’s formal training unit, and McConnell AFB, Kansas, the first Active Duty-led main operating base, now that basing decisions have been finalized. “AFCEC did...

GPS IIF Launched from the Cape

The sixth Global Positioning System IIF satellite successfully launched May 16 from Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla., aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta IV rocket. “Today’s successful launch demonstrates our combined government and industry team’s dedication to mission success, ensuring GPS...

Fitter, Quicker NATO

NATO planners are “considering the longer-term implications of Russia’s actions” in Ukraine for the alliance’s strategy and force posture, Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said, according to an alliance release. “More than ever we need to be ready, prepared, and...

Back Down to Darwin

A B-52 bomber on rotation to Andersen AFB, Guam, will head to RAAF Darwin in Northwestern Australia this week to “take part in short-term training” with the Royal Australian Air Force, states a Pacific Air Forces release. The bomber also...

Cultivating a Culture of Innovation

Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James and USAF Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Larry Spencer called on all airmen to continue coming up with creative ways to save the Air Force money. In the memo to airmen, released last week,...

Creating Target Drones

Boeing has converted six Lockheed Martin F-16s into QF-16 target drones and is on track to reach initial operational capability by the first quarter of Fiscal 2016, Boeing spokesman Lorenzo Cortez told Air Force Magazine. The QF-16s are presently performing...