Lawmakers are beginning to weigh how the fiscal 2021 defense policy bill could help solve the KC-46 tanker program’s woes and speed its introduction into regular operations. Congress could dictate the terms of how Boeing should fix the tanker’s faulty remote vision system and how ...
Private aerial refueling may help ease the intense demand for tankers, as service leaders and U.S. Transportation Command debate the plan to retire legacy refuelers. The Air Force’s fiscal 2021 budget request calls for retiring 16 KC-10s and 13 KC-135s. Top USAF and TRANSCOM officials ...
PATRICK AIR FORCE BASE, Fla.—Space Force officials here want federal lawmakers to tweak spending rules so the military can use money from private companies to pay for infrastructure changes to the launch range at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. “We're going to have to come ...
Lawmakers on Feb. 26 signaled a harsh fight ahead over the Pentagon's plans to retire aging aircraft and shift spending from weapons systems to border wall protection. The Defense Department’s total $705.4 billion fiscal 2021 request looks to retire dozens of USAF aircraft. Defense Secretary ...
The pressure on the aerial refueling community affects more than the iron on Air Force ramps. Total Force aircrews are part of the most stressed force element in U.S. Transportation Command, Army Gen. Stephen Lyons told the Senate Armed Services Community on Feb. 25. Lyons ...
Heading into budget negotiation season, the three civilian heads of the armed forces outlined their looming struggles with Capitol Hill at a Feb. 21 Center for Strategic and International Studies panel. Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett said it’s harder to convince lawmakers of the merits ...
The Air Force says it has all the money it needs to rebuild bases struck by natural disasters in the past two years, after lobbying Congress for billions of dollars to backfill its coffers depleted by recovery efforts. Congress allocated $5.3 billion for disaster relief ...
The Pentagon is asking Congress to move $3.8 billion, including nearly $1.5 billion in Air Force funding, from weapons programs to the border wall project. The Feb. 13 reprogramming request would shift $2.2 billion from already appropriated base budget funds for fiscal 2020 plus another ...
The Defense Department's $740.5 billion budget request for fiscal 2021 increases spending on nuclear modernization, space, cyberspace, and multi-domain operations in preparation for great power competition, while proposing to cut dozens of legacy aircraft and reducing overseas contingency operations funding for the wars in the ...
The Pentagon’s Defense-Wide Review would shift $5.7 billion from non-military defense offices and agencies to higher priority missions such as nuclear deterrence and technology investment. The review, released this week, recommended “right-sizing” entities such as medical treatment facilities, reducing the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, and ...
Enemy attacks on U.S., coalition, and Afghan forces in the fourth quarter of 2019 reached the highest level since the U.S. government’s watchdog for the war began keeping track in 2010, resulting in increased air operations in the country. The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan ...
Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. John Hyten on Jan. 29 provided a nugget of insight into how the Pentagon will structure its first budget request for the Space Force since the new service was created in December, saying the process will ...