Airmen have been keeping plenty busy in Afghanistan this year, flying more than 162,000 total sorties. That includes about 90,000 combat sorties, 22,000 close air support missions, and 15,000 aerial refueling sorties, said Air Force Secretary Michael Donley during AFA’s Air and Space Conference in National Harbor, Md., Sept. 17. Airmen also have transported more than 1.2 million troops and delivered more than 380,000 tons of cargo, he added.
Advancements in commercial space technology could make President Donald Trump’s proposed “Golden Dome” missile defense network far more likely to succeed than the failed “Star Wars” strategic umbrella initiative of the 1980s, U.S. Space Command’s top general said May 22....