Over the past year, Iranian drone and missile attacks killed American Soldiers at air bases in Jordan and Saudi Arabia, destroyed an E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control aircraft, and damaged other aircraft on the ground. The Combined Air Operations...
September/October 2026
Vol. 109, No. 9
America’s launch enterprise has been outperforming expectations for more than a decade, steadily increasing the missions it can support, the pace of resetting launch pads, and the agility to launch on demand. In 2025 alone, the service’s two spaceports,...
The Airman’s imperative to defend from small uninhabited aerial vehicles. The air base has become a central target set. Small drones have become one of the defining air threats of modern warfare, representing a structural change in the character of...
Reinvigorating USAFA’s Summer Training
AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo.— It’s 0459, and Cadet 1st Class Abigail Anderson is already outside the door, hands poised, ready to pound. Up and down the hallway, at every door, other cadets mirror her stance. As 0500 hits, the yelling and...
Rebuilding the U.S. Air Force for Multi-Theater Conflict
In June 2026, airpower experts from the U.S. Air Force, seven allied air forces, and industry convened for a three-day wargame designed to stress notional 2036 USAF combat forces in a series of concurrent crises: a Russian assault against NATO...
Editorial: The Lost Quarter Century
When Al Qaeda terrorists turned commercial airliners into cruise missiles on Sept. 11, 2001, killing more than 3,000 people in New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania, our military was ready and ripe for the challenge. The first American bombs struck...
Letters
The Guts to Try I was heartened by the language Gen. Dan Caine used for the toast to the Doolittle Raiders [“Verbatim: A Heroe’s Toast,” May/June, p. 12]—“They proved that if you have the guts to try, great things can...
Faces of the Force
Members of the Alaska ANG’s 176th Wing at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, rescued the pilot of a single-engine floatplane that crashed about 25 miles south of Anchorage. An HH-60W Jolly Green II with the 210th Rescue Squadron, carrying two pararescuemen...
Verbatim
Verbatim – September/October 2026 × Ready or Not “When General Wilsbach came in as the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, he made “fixing” one of the key elements of what we need to do, and put a spotlight...
WORLD: Air
The 492nd SOW Lands at Davis-Monthan By Stephen Losey As the last few A-10 Warthogs leave Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., Air Force Special Operations Command is accelerating plans to move a new wing to the Arizona base. The 492nd...
WORLD: Space
The Challenge of Funding Golden Dome By Courtney Albon HUNTSVILLE, Ala.—The four-star general in charge of the Pentagon’s Golden Dome program warned that uncertainty around the Pentagon’s $350 billion reconciliation request could slow progress on the homeland missile defense effort,...
WORLD: National Security
JB Charleston Gets a New Name By Chris Gordon CHARLESTON, S.C.—A major East Coast military base that serves as a key Air Force logistics hub was renamed after the late Sen. Lindsey Graham Aug. 10 in a ceremony led by...
WORLD: Technology
New Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missiles By Greg Hadley The Pentagon’s top research lab is interested in developing a hypersonic cruise missile prototype that provides “a revolutionary leap in operational performance,” as the first wave of U.S. hypersonic weapons enters production...
WORLD: Personnel
New Enlisted Recruiting Commander By Todd South The Air Force appointed a colonel to head enlisted recruiting, more than 18 months after combining officer and enlisted recruiting into a single organization. Col. Lacresha A. Merkle took command of Air Force...
2026 Outstanding Airmen of the Year
SMSgt. Michael J. Falleroni Senior Master Sergeant Falleroni helped stand up a battlecab for USAFE’s Air Operations Center, developing real-time, top-secret intelligence for the CFACC and five general officers during Operation Midnight Hammer. His actions enabled the largest B-2 mission...
AFA IN ACTION: Lisa Werner is AFA’s 2026 Teacher of the Year
The Air & Space Forces Association, in partnership with Rolls-Royce, selected its 2026 Thompson-Mallett National Teacher of the Year, along with two runners up. The three were recognized for their extraordinary work in science, technology, engineering, and math education (STEM)...
Heroes and Leaders: Lance P. Sijan
Courage in the face of danger. On March 4, 1976, President Gerald Ford presented the Medal of Honor to the parents of a remarkable hero. Lance Sijan was born in Milwaukee in 1942. He was big, brash, handsome, and self-confident....
