The Air Force’s tanker presence in the Arctic will grow, with four more KC-135s heading to a new Active component at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska. The KC-135s and up to 220 Active duty Airmen will head to the 168th Wing at Eielson, with aircraft ...
The commander of 19th Air Force will be hitting the road in the coming months, explaining to nearly every USAF flying unit how pilot training is changing, and why they should accept it, Maj. Gen. Craig D. Wills told reporters March 23. The new systems ...
U.S.-led coalition aircraft recently conducted a major offensive against the Islamic State group in northern Iraq, conducting 133 airstrikes over 10 days targeting a cave complex that served as a safe haven for terrorists. That's more than any monthly airstrike total in Iraq and Syria ...
Aircrew flight equipment Airmen face deep problems maintaining proficiency, largely stemming from inadequate training and high operations tempo, and the Air Force should respond by expanding the number of personnel and overhauling the career field’s progression, according to a new report. Air Combat Command tasked ...
Full-rate production of the F-35 and delivery of the Block 4 upgrade will keep slipping until the simulator is fixed and the Pentagon sets some realistic timetables for software development, the Government Accountability Office reported on March 18. It recommended better automatic tools for assessing ...
The Air Force canceled its Pacific-based Advanced Battle Management System on-ramp later this year after it already cut back the scope of its most recent event in Europe because of Congressionally mandated budget cuts. Congress, in the fiscal 2021 defense policy bill, questioned the need ...
Two B-2 Spirits and two B-1B Lancers linked up near Iceland for a training mission March 16, highlighting the importance the Air Force is placing on the Arctic region. The four bombers flew a “long-range integration” in the high north, flying together off the coast ...
A Pentagon declaration that the F-35's initial development is complete is still months away, but even when it comes, it won't trigger a surge in production of the fighter. “I don’t think you’ll see a large deviation” in production when full-rate is declared, according to ...
B-2s deployed to Europe on March 16, conducting a hot-pit refeuling at Lajes Field, Portugal, before taking off again to conduct bomber task force missions in the region. The undisclosed number of B-2s took off from Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., and did the hot-pit ...
An F-22 experienced an in-flight emergency and a subsequent mishap upon landing March 15 at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. The pilot was transported to the base’s flight medicine clinic for an evaluation immediately after landing, Eglin said in a statement. The F-22, assigned to ...
Air Education and Training Command's “Accelerated Path to Wings” program graduated its first-ever class of undergraduate pilots at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas, on March 12. The program produces pilots in approximately seven months—five months shorter than typical undergraduate pilot training—by letting student pilots stick ...
The Air Force is offering bonuses of up to $420,000 to pilots who commit to staying in uniform for up to 12 years. The service wants to keep pilots in its cockpits longer as it continues to grapple with an ongoing pilot shortage and the ...