Basic Military Training Adds Character-Focused Capstone Week

Starting on Tuesday, Air Force trainees entering basic military training at JBSA-Lackland, Texas, will take part in a new, character-focused Capstone Week as part of their eight-and-a-half-weeks of BMT instruction, announced Air Education and Training Command. The five days of...

Hagel: Ground-Breaking US-India Defense Cooperation

During his state visit to India, President Barack Obama unveiled a series of bilateral agreements with the Indian government, including defense and security initiatives. In a joint statement released on Jan. 25, Obama and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighted...

CBO Estimates Costs of Nuclear Forces

The projected cost of operating, maintaining, and modernizing US nuclear forces between 2015 and 2024 is $348 billion, or about $35 billion per year over that period, according to the Congressional Budget Office. That number includes Defense Department and Energy...

Cyber Squadron Activated at Hickam

As a sign of the growing importance of cyber security, the Air Force earlier this month stood up the 690th Cyberspace Operations Squadron at JB Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, according to a base release. The squadron’s activation followed the inactivation of...

Airmen, C-130s Train in Bangladesh

Some 80 airmen and three C-130Hs from the 36th Airlift Squadron at Yokota AB, Japan, deployed to Bangladesh to train with their Bangladeshi counterparts in Exercise Cope South 15, announced Pacific Air Forces on Monday. The exercise began on Jan....

Engine Failure Doomed Predator

The Air Force lost an MQ-1B Predator remotely piloted aircraft in a crash last year near Kandahar AB, Afghanistan, due to engine failure, announced Air Combat Command on Monday. The Predator was on an information-gathering mission on July 14, 2014,...

Cracking the Collaborative Autonomy CODE

DARPA is interested in improving collaborative autonomy so that groups of remotely piloted aircraft could work together under a single human’s supervision, announced the agency. Under the Collaborative Operations in Denied Environment, or CODE, program, DARPA seeks to develop algorithms...

First Marine Corps F-35C Arrives at Eglin

The first F-35C built for the Marine Corps touched down at Eglin AFB, Fla., where it will join a Navy unit for training pilots of the carrier-optimized variant of the strike fighter, according to a base release. The airplane arrived...

Dutch Conclude Patriot Mission in Turkey

The Netherlands this week will conclude its mission of protecting southwestern Turkish airspace with two Patriot missile batteries stationed near Incirlik Air Base, according to a base release. Replacing the Dutch personnel and hardware will be members of the Spanish...