About 150 personnel and aggressor F-16s from Eielson AFB, Alaska, touched down in Australia this week for a large-scale exercise Down Under. The airmen and aircraft from the 18th Aggressor Squadron will work with Royal Australian Air Force Air Warfare Centre instructors to help train RAAF pilots in Exercise Diamond Shield 2017. During the exercise, the F-16s will flying alongside RAAF C-17s, C-130s, and AP-3C, according to a Pacific Air Forces release. The aircraft, along with members of the Australian Army and Navy, will conduct a high-readiness deployment exercise in response to a simulated security threat.
The rate of building B-21 bombers would speed up if the fiscal 2026 defense budget passes. But it remains unclear how much capacity would be added, and whether the Air Force would simply build the bombers faster, or buy more.