The Air Force will make an “early” transition of the 4th Fighter Squadron at Hill AFB, Utah, from the F-16 mission to the F-35A, according to a release. This move is one of the steps the Air Force is taking to free up maintenance manpower for the F-35A in order to support the schedule for standing up the service’s first combat-ready force of F-35As, which will be located at Hill. The service intends to have that force available for use around August 2016. The 4th FS is one of Hill’s two combat-coded F-16 units. In a related move in late February, the Air Force announced that it would shift 18 A-10s from combat-ready status to the service’s backup inventory in order to free up experienced maintainers for the F-35A mission. Nine of those A-10s will come from Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz., six from Moody AFB, Ga., and three from Nellis AFB, Nev. (See also Looking at a Smaller Number.)
NASA Boss: Race to Moon Has National Security Stakes
Sept. 15, 2026
NASA is pushing hard to get astronauts back to the moon by 2028—and the urgency is driven in no small part by the national security implications of doing so before China does, Administrator Jared Isaacman said Sept. 15.
