The Air Force needs stealthy "Aggressor" aircraft to spar with its fighters, and adversary air companies can no longer offer enough of a threat, the Air Force's programmer told the Senate Armed Services Committee. AdAir is "not giving us what we need" at Nellis AFB ...
F-35
Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, celebrated the beddown of its full complement of F-35s with a ceremony just weeks after the base received the last of its 54 fighters. The arrival of those F-35s in mid-April gave Eielson the Air Force’s second fully equipped, combat-coded ...
Finnish fighter pilots take off, land, and fly in harsh Arctic conditions routinely—all within range of Russian air defenses. They often share these specialized capabilities with the U.S. Air Force to hone Arctic agile combat employment concepts. But as the Nordic nation contemplates a NATO ...
F-35s from the Vermont Air National Guard arrived in Europe to support the NATO air policing mission, marking the first overseas deployment of the Vermont ANG fighters. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sparked a crisis across the European continent, the Air Force has deployed F-35s, ...
The UPL, which was obtained by Air Force Magazine but not released by the department, lists eight priorities the service wants but couldn’t afford in its 2023 budget request, released in late March. The F-35 is fifth on that list.
The Air Force will retire or divest 250 aging aircraft in 2023 if given a greenlight by Congress, and acquire 82 others.
The manned fighter aircraft that will form the centerpiece of the Air Force’s Next Generation Air Dominance program will cost hundreds of millions of dollars per plane, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall told members of Congress on April 27—but the service can reduce costs in ...
The Air Force will rely on the F-16 for the bulk of its low-end missions for nearly two more decades, deputy chief of staff for plans and programs Lt. Gen. David S. Nahom said. A decision on the sol-called MR-X which will replace the F-16 ...
“We hear a clear call from the Air Force to ‘accelerate change.’ Competition is a great way to do it,” says Gen. Frank Gorenc (Ret.). “We have an opportunity in the near-term to introduce competition through a new engine for the world’s most advanced fighter, ...
The Air Force will form a training unit from its newer Block 30/35 F-22 Raptors, reducing the jets available for combat operations—but the new AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile will help those combat jets hold onto their competitive edge, according to Lt. Gen. David S. ...
The Department of the Air Force needs its largest research and development budget ever in the face of threats from China and Russia, the lead Air Force and Space Force budget planners said. Air Force Lt. Gen. David S. Nahom and Space Force Lt. Gen. William ...
Budget compromises driven by the need to modernize two-thirds of the nuclear triad forced Air Force leaders to cut planned F-35 purchases in 2023 to just 33—15 fewer than it bought in fiscal 2022 and 27 fewer than 2021, said Lt. Gen. David S. Nahom, ...
