July 2009

The two-war standard has withstood years of challenges. There is a good reason.

The F-35—the last remaining manned combat aircraft program—moves to the center of US airpower plans.

Operational trends over 40 years have shown that US airpower depends completely on tankers.

The little UAV had an inauspicious start. Things have picked up considerably.

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Things weren’t all that great to begin with. And then came “Bloody Monday.”

They are indispensable. Everyone loves them. There are no plans for new ones.

A modest airlift into Sudan marks the start of what may prove to be a new regional preoccupation.

The nation’s air arm in World War II was the Army Air Forces. However, there’s more to the story.

On Cambodia’s Koh Tang in 1975, US forces fought the last battle of the Southeast Asia War.

There go 3.5 wings; Skelton’s skepticism; Accelerate the F-35? ....

In 1988, just before the Cold War faded out, America’s strategic nuclear deterrent boasted some 13,000 warheads, but two subsequent decades of negotiated cuts have reduced the total to roughly 2,000 “operationally deployed” weapons. Warhead losses of such magnitude inevitably...

Roadside Bombs Kill Four Lt. Col. Mark E. Stratton II, 39, and SrA. Ashton L. M. Goodman, 21, died May 26 of wounds sustained from an improvised explosive device near Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan. Stratton, of Houston, was serving as commander...

Eliminate the Air Force “The Air Force should be eliminated, and its personnel and equipment integrated into the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps. … The Army, Navy, and Marine Corps are at war, but the Air Force is not. …...

“Remarks on the F-117” Ben R. Rich F-117A Final Delivery Ceremony Palmdale, Calif. July 12, 1990 FULL TEXT VERSION Ben R. Rich, head of Lockheed’s Skunk Works in the period 1975-91, was the father of the first stealth fighter—the F-117....

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Like It or Lump It In your May 2009 editorial, “The Air Force That Comes Next” [p. 2], you suggest that “the future Air Force won’t be what its leaders expected it to be.” I would contend that it will...

A Return to Minot When AFA Chairman of the Board Joseph E. Sutter visited Minot AFB, N.D., and the Gen. David C. Jones Chapter in April, the local CBS affiliate took note. “Because we live next to a military base,...