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 Air Force is accelerating its plans to field an MQ-9A replacement in the wake of heavy Reaper losses in operations against Iran, top officials said Sept. 3, and they’re targeting a price point of just $10 million per aircraft.
The U.S. is rotating fresh fighter squadrons to the Middle East to support the Trump administration’s open-ended campaign of economic and military pressure against Iran.
An F-16 Air National Guard unit’s six-month deployment to Kadena Air Base, Japan, this year illustrated the capabilities the Guard’s oldest fighter units can still offer—but also the challenges they face, officials told reporters this week.
The last EC-130H Compass Call in the Air Force’s active inventory made its final flight Sept. 2, as the service prepares to retire the venerable electronic warfare aircraft and pivot to the new EA-37B.
Air Force B-52 Stratofortress bombers landed at a northern Australian air base this week, a major display of the U.S. military’s ability to project force in the Pacific.
The base cost of an F-35A, the Air Force variant of the Joint Strike Fighter, is going up 11.5 percent from $82.5 million to $92 million for the latest lots of the fifth-generation aircraft, Air & Space Forces Magazine has confirmed.
The Air Force Research Laboratory has signaled to industry it wants to develop a low-cost hypersonic cruise missile to deliver a wide range of payloads at a range up to 500 nautical miles.
The Air Force’s decision to more than double its purchase of F-15EX Eagle II jets may bolster the service’s fighter fleet, but it also comes with risks and questions officials will have to manage in the years ahead, a new Pentagon report warns.
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