A row of KC-135 Stratotankers taxi on the flight line at Fairchild Air Force Base, Wash, Sept. 29, 2021. Following the taxi, 20 aircraft took off from the flight line, which provided an opportunity to showcase the readiness of Fairchild aircrews and the fleet of aircraft. Fairchild Facebook photo.
Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.org
The 92nd Air Refueling Wing at Fairchild Air Force Base, Wash., simultaneously launched 20 KC-135s on Sept. 29, marking the largest-ever minimum interval takeoff event for the base, according to a spokesperson.
“This was an impressive feat boasting the largest take-off of a KC-135 fleet at Fairchild Air Force Base,” according to a Fairchild press release. “Today we launched more Refuelers than are owned by whole countries.”
The readiness exercise, which included an “elephant walk” as the aerial tankers lined up before takeoff, tested Fairchild’s maintenance generation capabilities and its ability to launch multiple aircraft in short order.
Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.org
The crash of a T-38 trainer jet this May—which caused a weekslong pause in flights across the fleet—was caused by an improperly installed pin for one of the jet’s horizontal stabilizers, according to a new accident report released Oct. 30. When the pin disengaged midflight, it created the slightest amount…
The Air Force in October carried out a homeland defense mission, with jets including F-16 Fighting Falcons, in Alaska’s remote Aleutian Islands to show a base there could safeguard the northern regions.
A new think tank analysis finds a hypothetical blended-wing body tanker could offer twice as much refueling performance as the KC-46A Pegasus and recommends the Air Force buy scores of them, as the service prepares to evaluate a BWB demonstrator next year and must juggle its future tanker plans with…
For years, U.S. and South Korean officials have said they want to reach an arrangement where, should war break out on the peninsula, Seoul’s military commanders would have operational control of American forces there. Such a setup would be unprecedented in modern times and what it would mean for U.S.…
Squadrons of F-22 Raptors and F-15C Eagles have arrived at Kadena Air Base, Japan, for temporary deployments as the critical Pacific base awaits its permanent F-15EX fighters.
At a high-profile meeting of defense ministers in the Philippines this week, U.S. and Japan leaders finalized an agreement to establish a production facility in Japan for the AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile, following a massive $20.7 billion Pentagon contract to expand production of the missile over the next seven…
The Air Force has awarded Castelion, a venture capital-backed defense startup founded in 2022, a contract to integrate its hypersonic Blackbeard missile onto the F-16 Fighting Falcon.
Fresh off Boeing’s victory in the competition to build the Navy’s sixth-generation F/A-XX fighter, CEO Kelly Ortberg on Oct. 27 expressed confidence that the darkest days of the company’s beleaguered defense sector are in the past. A year ago, Boeing expected its Defense, Space, and Security division to see revenue…
The Air Force awarded Lockheed Martin a $694 million contract for production of the Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon last month, the service announced Oct. 26.
✓
Thank You!
Check your inbox to verify your email address and finish setting up your AFA account.
★
Welcome Back!
An account with this email already exists. Please log in to continue.
Subscribe to the Air & Space Forces Daily Report
The latest news from Air & Space Forces Magazine, as well as news from other leading publications, delivered right to your inbox every morning!
We’re sorry, there has been an error. Please review your input or try again later.
