Rep. Adam Kinzinger, an Air National Guard major who has flown air refueling and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, is leaving for his annual two weeks of Active Duty with the Air Guard, the congressman announced on Twitter. “I’m off for duty with the Air Guard. Feel free to contact my offices with any questions you may have while I’m gone,” the Republican lawmaker told his Illinois constituents. Commissioned in the Air Force in 2003, Kinzinger earned his pilot’s wings and flew KC-135 airborne tankers, then switched to the RC-26, a twin turboprop ISR platform. He did several tours in Iraq and Afghanistan during the conflicts there. Kinzinger will serve his two week Active Duty for training flying the RC-26 Condor out of Truax-Volk ANGB near Madison, Wisc., his communications director, Zach Hunter, said Wednesday. Truax-Volk is home to the 115th Fighter Squadron. The Fairchild-built RC-26 has two pilots and a navigator, mission systems operator. It is equipped with daylight electro-optical cameras and a FLIR sensor for nighttime. In the United States it often is used to support counter-drug operations.
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.
