Aerospace experts offered a peek into how joint all-domain command and control might begin changing the Air Force over the next few years, during RAND Corp.’s West Coast Aerospace Forum on Dec. 2. Expect the upcoming fiscal 2022 and 2023 budgets to majorly accelerate combat ...
F-35A
The lack of training ranges and airspace in Japan are making it difficult for U.S. aircrews to maintain readiness during the pandemic, the head of U.S. forces in Japan said. U.S. and Japanese aircraft and personnel need to leave the country for high-end training, often ...
Secrecy prevents the F-35 Joint Program Office from revealing the corrective measures being taken after hardware and software deficiencies contributed to a May crash of an F-35 at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., the JPO said Nov. 23. It is unusual for the government to ...
Ten USAF and Navy aircraft types trained together in a large force event on Nov. 17, which included testing several new technologies and capabilities aimed at degraded communications and contested environments. Large Force Test Event 20.03 at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., featured the F-35, ...
The vast majority of Defense Department aircraft, including all of the military’s most advanced fleets, fell short of their mission readiness goals over the past decade, according to a recent Government Accountability Office report. Only three of 46 different types of aircraft that the GAO ...
F-16s and Airmen from Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, deployed to the Middle East last week under a “dynamic force employment” concept aimed at quickly moving forces around the world. The Vipers, from the 480th Fighter Squadron, deployed Nov. 12 to Al-Dhafra Air Base, United Arab ...
The Senate Appropriations Committee wants to keep a closer eye on the Pentagon’s most expensive weapons program. Lawmakers added multiple provisions to the committee’s version of the fiscal 2021 defense spending bill that call for more reports on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, as well ...
Senate appropriators on Nov. 10 released a $696 billion defense funding bill for fiscal 2021 that offers the Department of the Air Force less money than it requested for most spending accounts. The proposal comes more than a month into the fiscal year, as the ...
About 80 aircraft have come together for Checkered Flag 21-1—a large-scale, air-to-air exercise off the coast of Florida. The exercise, which focuses on integrating fourth- and fifth-generation fighters in several scenarios, runs until Nov. 14 at Tyndall Air Force Base. Participating aircraft include Tyndall’s F-22s ...
Lt. Col. Jared “Vic” Santos, 388th Fighter Wing special projects manager, recently became the first USAF Airman to accrue 1,000 flying hours in the F-35A Lightning II fighter jet, the wing announced. Santos hit the milestone during an approximately two-hour, “four-on-six tactical intercept” training sortie ...
F-35As and Airmen from the 421st Fighter Squadron returned home to Hill Air Force Base, Utah, within the past week after a six-month deployment for combat operations in the Middle East. The 421st was the third Hill squadron in a row to be tasked with ...
Arctic survival kits are the newest feature on the Air Force's F-35A Joint Strike Fighters at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska. The F-35 was not designed to carry sleeping bags and other equipment to protect pilots if they need to eject into the brutal Arctic ...
