Despite a snow-covered Washington, D.C., Vice President Joe Biden administered the oath of office to Ashton Carter during a private ceremony at the White House on Tuesday. Carter is now the 25th Secretary of Defense. The ceremony occurred after Carter...
The Air Force is the smallest it’s been since its inception in 1947, said Secretary Deborah Lee James at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Fla., last week. During Desert Storm/Desert Shield in 1990, the Air Force had 188 fighter...
The Air Force cannot keep taking money away from “critical mission infrastructure” to fund operational activities, said Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Fla., last week. Without updates to educational and nuclear infrastructure,...
It’s easy to get lost in talk of technology and weapons systems and even budgets and sequestration, but CMSAF James Cody reminded the crowd at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Fla., Feb. 12 that airmen are still the biggest...
Raytheon’s Small Diameter Bomb II successfully destroyed moving targets during recent live fire tests, opening the door to low-rate initial rate production, the company announced on Feb. 16. “These tests showcased the weapon’s new multi-effects warhead that provides SDB II...
Although the results of the European Infrastructure Consolidation were announced in early January, there are still many details to be worked out, said US Air Forces in Europe-Air Forces Africa Commander Gen. Frank Gorenc. For example, RAF Mildenhall, England, will...
The European Infrastructure Consolidation determined that the number of US military and civilian personnel at Lajes Airfield, Portugal, will decrease by about 500 over the next five to seven years, but the mission is not going away, emphasized US Air...
Air Education and Training Command is looking at injecting reserve component fighter pilots, or even civilian instructors, into the introduction to fighter fundamentals course to ease USAF’s fighter pilot shortage. “I have three squadrons of IFF that are 100 percent...
KC-Z, the third and last portion of Air Force tanker recapitalization decades from now, “must be a revolution,” and not just an evolution in aerial refueling technology, and must embrace outside-of-the-box ideas, said Gen. Darren McDew, head of Air Mobility...
Air Mobility Command is joining forces with Air Force Space Command for an officer exchange program, according to Gen. Darren McDew, Air Mobility Command boss. “I am going to bring in a cyber-smart, space-smart [colonel] to the Tanker Airlift Control...
The Air Force is working to “reset” its thinking in three areas of space operations, said Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh during his address at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Fla., last week. The first is the discussion...
The Air National Guard is going ahead with standing up a new MC-12 Liberty special operations unit at Will Rogers ANGB, Okla., “later this year,” Lt. Gen. Bradley Heithold, commander of Air Force Special Operations Command said on Feb. 12....
The Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies illustrated the fragility of the Air Force’s current command and control network in a realistic video scenario, released in conjunction with AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Fla. In the video simulation, US Air...