The Air Force cannot keep taking money away from “critical mission infrastructure” to fund operational activities, said Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Fla., last week. Without updates to educational and nuclear infrastructure, test facilities, training ranges, and simulation infrastructure, combat capability will be severely affected, he said. “We have got to get back to a persistent, consistent investment in this kind of infrastructure or our Air Force will break 10 years from now,” said Welsh. (Welsh transcript.)
An important U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry AWACS command and control plane was among the aircraft damaged in a March 27 Iranian missile and drone attack on Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, people familiar with the matter told Air & Space Forces Magazine.