The US is going to have less of an Air Force, but what there is will not be “hollow,” Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz said Tuesday. In his headliner speech at AFA’s Air & Space Conference, Schwartz said that after the current round of deep budget cuts, the USAF that emerges will be “smaller in size and scale. “ He said, “We will still be an extremely capable and effective force,” but, he added that force would be “able to be in fewer places and to achieve fewer effects in the rapid succession to which we have become accustomed.” The risk of being smaller will be mitigated somewhat by partnering more with the other services and with allies, Schwartz said. The strategy for weathering the reductions is to “commit to readiness as a priority and hold the line against longer-term erosion in combat power availability and preparedness.” Schwartz assured the audience that USAF will continue to provide “the many utilities of airpower, as only airmen can provide it. … We’ll be there for our joint teammates and our nation. We will do it, or we’ll die trying.”
Air Force Conducts Test Launch of Minuteman III ICBM
May 21, 2025
The Air Force tested an unarmed Minuteman III ICBM from Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif,. at 12:01 a.m. Pacific Time May. 21. The successful test saw the missile equipped with a single reentry vehicle travel more than 4,200 miles to strike a test site near Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall…