Northrop Grumman will officially move ahead as the sole company in the Air Force’s competition to design a new intercontinental ballistic missile, under a $13.3 billion contract, the service said Sept. 8. Northrop’s design for the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent will replace the 400 nuclear-tipped Minuteman ...
Air Force Global Strike
Barksdale Air Force Base, La., suffered light damage and no deaths or injuries due to Hurricane Laura, which passed close to the base early on Aug. 27. Most of the base's B-52 bombers evacuated to Minot Air Force Base, N.D., in the day and night ...
A strengthening Hurricane Laura has prompted 8th Air Force to move its B-52H bombers from Barksdale Air Force Base, La., to other locations, but the base is not planning to evacuate its personnel, a 2nd Bomb Wing spokesman said. Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base in ...
Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., moved C-130J transports and WC-130 hurricane hunters to other bases ahead of a double tropical storm bearing down on the Gulf Coast, but Barksdale Air Force Base, La., home of Global Strike Command and half of USAF's B-52 bombers, plans ...
A Navy E-6B Mercury nuclear command plane launched a three-tipped, unarmed Air Force nuclear missile from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., in an unusual but long-planned exercise Aug. 4. Sailors and Airmen from Offutt Air Force Base, Neb., aboard the E-6B worked with Airmen from ...
Bigger fleets of aircraft are easier and less costly per aircraft to manage than small ones, but that may change as the Air Force moves toward the new Digital Century Series, Air Force Materiel Command chief Gen. Arnold W. Bunch Jr. said July 1. The ...
Nuclear modernization concerns are again on the table for fiscal 2021 defense policy negotiations, as House lawmakers raise issues about staffing, program delays, and how to use the weapons themselves. The Air Force’s three major nuclear weapon upgrade programs—the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent, the Long-Range Standoff ...
Two B-2s linked up with Norwegian F-35s north of the Arctic Circle on June 18 to demonstrate long-range strategic integration, as the Air Force is set to release a new strategy on how it will operate in the Arctic, the head of U.S. Air Forces ...
Maj. Gen. Mark Weatherington took command of 8th Air Force from Maj. Gen. Jim Dawkins Jr. during a June 12 ceremony at Barksdale Air Force Base, La. As the leader of the “Mighty Eighth,” Weatherington will oversee the Air Force’s bomber force, including more than ...
USAF is slowly unveiling its plans for a new bomber force.
Within just four days, the Air Force sent nuclear-capable bombers on long-distance training flights to Europe and the Pacific, while B-1s flew their own long-range missions in both regions. On May 11, B-1s from Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., flew from their home base to ...
The Air Force announced April 17 it will no longer base strategic bombers outside of the continental United States, marking an end to the service's 16-year continuous bomber presence at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam. But before the last bomber left the island, USAF reminded ...