Lt. Gen. Robert Elder Jr., who has led 8th Air Force, headquartered at Barksdale AFB, La., since June 2006, plans to retire, effective July 1, according to his official biography. The Shreveport Times reports that Elder will leave his post on June 1. According to an April 24 Pentagon release, the Air Force already has tapped Maj. Gen. Floyd Carpenter, currently Elder’s vice commander, to take charge of the NAF. Elder, who entered the Air Force in 1976, also was instrumental in USAF efforts to establish a new cyber force as well as working to rejuvenate the service’s nuclear enterprise, a process that will include the shift of 8th Air Force from Air Combat Command to the new Air Force Global Strike Command.
House lawmakers unveiled a new reconciliation package July 15 with $60 billion for defense, $290 billion less than the Pentagon has been seeking, a day after a Senate vote to advance the annual defense policy bill failed—developments that show the perilous state of the Pentagon’s ambitious plans for fiscal 2027.