President Trump nominated Gen. Charles Q. Brown, head of Pacific Air Forces, to be the next Air Force Chief of Staff, succeeding Gen. David Goldfein, who retires this summer. If confirmed, Brown would be the first African American to serve as Chief of Staff of any of the U.S. Armed Forces. The only other African American to serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff was Army Gen. Colin Powell, who was Chairman from 1989-1993. "I am truly honored and humbled by the nomination to serve as the Air Force's 22nd Chief of Staff," Brown said in March 2 statement. "If confirmed, Sharene and I look forward to building upon the legacy of Gen. Dave and Dawn Goldfein, and the many airpower giants before who have served our Air Force and our nation with such dedication."

Gen. Charles Q. Brown sat down with reporters at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium, just days before officially being tapped as the next Chief of Staff of the Air Force. The wide-ranging interview touched on Joint All-Domain Command and Control, logistics while under attack, the challenges facing U.S. forces in the vast Indo-Pacific region, and standing up the Space Force. Read what he had to say on nine pressing topics he’ll have to deal with as Chief of Staff.

U.S. forces have the green light to begin withdrawing from Afghanistan under the recently signed deal with the Taliban, even though some pockets of violence have already returned. Defense Secretary Mark Esper urged Gen. Austin Miller, the commander of Operation Resolute Support, to “get moving and show our full faith and effort” with the deal. Under the agreement, US forces will initially draw down from about 12,000 to 8,600, with a full withdrawal expected within 14 months. For now, the U.S. will “maintain whatever capability is necessary to defend the United States against terrorists,” Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley said.

The Air Force picked the AGM-183 Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon hypersonic missile over the Hypersonic Conventional Strike Weapon because it's more advanced and is a better match to the Air Force's needs, and the HCSW just didn't fit in an overcrowded budget, service acquisition chief Will Roper said. “The reason we went with ARRW was not that HCSW was bad, but ARRW is smaller; we can carry twice as many on the B-52, and it’s possible it could be on the F-15 … It’s in the class to be able to fit on the centerline” station, Roper told reporters at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Fla. Though he didn’t elaborate on this point, the F-15 could accelerate the ARRW to Mach 3 before launch, potentially reducing the size of the booster needed to get the weapon to hypersonic speed.

In a first for Spark Tank, the Air Force’s Airman-powered innovation competition, two teams were named co-champions. The winning ideas that bested over 200 other submissions—six of which were live-pitched onstage at the Air Force Association’s 2020 Air Warfare Symposium here on Feb. 28—look to improve the quality of F-35 pilot training, and to add speed and efficiency to the weapons-loading process. USAF acquisition chief Will Roper decided to award a third team the 3D printer it requested, and AFWERX Marketing Manager Jordyn Fetter told Air Force Magazine senior leadership has requested every Airman who took part in the Feb. 28 event get "support to make their idea a reality. So, we consider them all winners."

The Air Force has updated its official song to be more inclusive of the women who wear the uniform, Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein announced. The third verse of the song, which originally included the lines “to a friend we send a message of his brother men who fly” and “a toast to the host of men we boast, the U.S. Air Force” was clearly exclusive, Goldfein said. This wasn’t intentional—the song dates back to the late 1930s and was officially adopted in 1947—but it needed to be updated to better define the makeup of the service.

The top couple in the Air Force on Feb. 27 hosted the first-ever Air Force-level Key Spouse conference, bringing together 300 spouses from across the service to discuss issues they all face and to find ways to improve the quality of life in the service. “Our key spouses are probably our most important retention tools,” said Dawn Goldfein, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein’s spouse, who hosted the event. “If we don’t take care of our families, who’s going to stay?”