National Guard adjutants general from nearly two dozen states have signed a letter to Congress seeking multiyear funding for the Air Force to purchase between 72 and 100 new fighter jets per year to modernize the total force.The letter, sent to Congress last week, stresses ...
Air Force modernization
The Pentagon’s proposed budget for the Air Force in fiscal 2027 would include billions of dollars in additional spending on advanced next-generation fighters, trainer aircraft, hypersonic missiles and more. But an expert close to Air Force issues said the service’s asks are paltry compared to ...
The Air Force cannot afford its three marquee air combat and mobility programs simultaneously, but should be given the resources to do so, Secretary Frank Kendall said.
The Air Force is reconsidering how it gains air superiority—and whether it needs a manned sixth-generation fighter to achieve it, acquisition boss Andrew P. Hunter said.
The Senate Armed Services Committee finished its markup of the fiscal 2025 National Defense Authorization bill on June 14, with mandates on more than a dozen aircraft or related programs and a keen interest in the future of the Air Force fighter fleet.
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin didn't offer certain support for the Next-Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) fighter at a June 13 Air & Space Forces Association event, saying the future air superiority platform is merely one choice among many the service will ...
The Department of the Air Force budget for fiscal 2025 is “acceptable” and Secretary Frank Kendall said he can defend it before Congress, but legislative cuts and inflation have slowed the development of key future capabilities, he said.
Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), a retired Air Force brigadier general and ISR pilot, has raised concerns about the service’s budget and the rate at which it is retiring aircraft in the past. Now, he’s hoping a new force design study he pushed for will articulate the ...
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall has announced a sweeping review of Air and Space Force readiness, to be completed in January 2024, aiming to hone the services' edge and heighten deterrence against China. Kendall promises major change and directed Airmen and Guardians to start sizing ...
Without a large corrective investment, the Air Force’s aged fighter force will “collapse” soon due to its small size, lack of training in high-end warfare, low availability, and chronic shortage of pilots and maintainers, according to a new report from the Air & Space Forces ...
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall insists the service needs to modernize rapidly to face the threat of China. But modernization does not just mean fielding new aircraft, Kendall and other service leaders argue—the Air Force also needs to retire its aging airplanes. “The truth is ...
Retiring Air Force Futures director Lt. Gen. Clinton Hinote, in his last testimony before Congress, said he worries the service isn’t leaving future Airmen a force “that wins,” and without the changes requested in the fiscal 2024 budget, needed transformation could “come off the rails.”