President Joe Biden will nominate Lt. Gen. Anthony J. Cotton to take over as the next commander of Air Force Global Strike Command. If confirmed, Cotton, currently AFGSC’s deputy commander, would replace retiring Gen. Timothy M. Ray, who has led the command since 2018. Cotton, ...
The two-war force-sizing construct should be restored in the next National Defense Strategy being developed by the Biden administration, according to a new paper from the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. The authors argued that a one-war capacity invites adversaries to take advantage of U.S. ...
A year after submitting its smallest military construction budget in a half-decade, the Department of the Air Force submitted a 2022 budget request that marked a return to years past—and a substantial increase overall. The 2022 figure of roughly $2.8 billion marks a 75 percent ...
Air Force Global Strike Command boss Gen. Timothy M. Ray said the Air Force did not include any new MH-139A Grey Wolf helicopters in its fiscal 2022 budget request because of certification delays related to the pandemic. "I spent some time talking to Boeing about ...
The Air Force recently awarded Bombardier a $465 million contract for up to six more E-11A Battlefield Airborne Communications Node aircraft. The E-11A, a heavily modified Bombardier Global 6000 business jet, acts as a “Wi-Fi in the sky." It is used heavily in Afghanistan, connecting ...
Through its first year of existence, the U.S. Space Force was focused on developing the overall structure by which the entirely new service would be organized. Now, as it heads into Year 2, the force will seek to “actually operationalize” that new structure, Col. Matthew ...
The Air Force wants another dozen F-15EXs as part of its $4.2 billion unfunded priorities list it submitted to Congress this week, but the service is not asking for any additional F-35A strike fighters. The Space Force sent a separate request to the Hill, but ...
The Air Force did not request to buy any new MH-139A Grey Wolf helicopters in its fiscal 2022 budget, and fielding will be delayed as the service waits to receive Federal Aviation Administration certification. The Air Force bought eight of the new helicopters in 2021, ...
The Air Force is asking to retire 201 airplanes and buy 91 new ones in its fiscal 2022 budget request, representing a net decrease of 110 airplanes. The fighter fleet would drop by 77 aircraft, and the RQ-4 Global Hawk fleet would be cut by ...
The Air Force didn’t effectively oversee the development of the KC-46’s refueling boom, leading to additional delays and costs and a lingering deficiency that prevents the tanker from refueling some USAF aircraft, according to a new Pentagon watchdog report. The Defense Department Inspector General, in ...
As Airmen prepare for the return of physical fitness tests July 1, the Air Force released updated scoring charts May 26 to reflect the changes to those tests. As previously announced, PT tests will no longer include the controversial waist measurement as a scored component, ...
Brig. Gen. William H. Kale III told House appropriators May 19 to expect a “significant” improvement in military construction funding in the department’s fiscal 2022 budget request, saying key focus areas include the fielding of new nuclear capabilities and bolstering facilities in the European and ...