WORLD: Technology

Sept. 12, 2025
Long-Range Drones Target Battlefield Delivery By Greg Hadley A new startup has a contract with the Air Force’s innovation arm and a prototype to test its new concept: a network of “flying pickup truck” drones to solve the problem of...
Inside a Vietnam War aircrew’s shootdown and the fight to honor their courage. The 10 Airmen of Stinger 41 knew the risks of flying their AC-119K gunship in daylight over enemy anti-aircraft gunners—a rare mission for an aircraft designed for...

WORLD: DAF

Sept. 12, 2025 | By Tobias Naegele
Allvin’s Retirement Casts Shadow on ‘Re-Optimization’ With his Aug. 18 announcement that he would retire this fall, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin ended months of speculation about his future and marked his tenure as among the shortest...
Stealth was a gamble 50 years ago. It’s still a good bet.  S tealth technology has given the U.S. military an air of near invincibility for the past 35 years. Overwhelmingly successful in the 1991 Gulf War, and heavily refined...
When the U.S. attacked Iran’s nuclear development facilities in June, more than 130 fighters played a crucial supporting role. But the seven B-2 stealth bombers—flying direct from the U.S. heartland—were indisputably the heart of the operation, each delivering two monster conventional bombs designed to penetrate ...
Dear Chief,  Congratulations on your selection. Just two dozen men have survived the culling to become Chief of Staff. Over the years I’ve interviewed 13 of them, plus perhaps two dozen other members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Here’s...
Alexander deSeversky was a well-known and popular aviation figure in America during World War II. He was a fighter ace and war hero, aircraft designer, entrepreneur, writer, and theorist. In that last role he was a transitional figure between the conventional bombing theorists of the ...

Verbatim

July 25, 2025
A-10 Scar Tissue “We wouldn’t be having this discussion about the A-10 if we had optimized the deliveries of the F 35A. The F-35 was designed to replace the F-117, the A-10 and F-15E model, but we truncated the buy...

Faces of the Force

July 25, 2025
Tell us who you think we should highlight here. Write to letters@afa.org. Tech. Sgt. Michelle Doolittle, a vocalist in the U.S. Air Forces in Europe-Air Forces Africa Band, honors her heritage through music and military service as the great-grandniece of...

WORLD: Personnel

July 25, 2025
USAF, USSF Hit Recruiting Goals—3 Months Early  By Chris Gordon  The Space Force and Air Force both hit their fiscal 2025 recruiting goals with months to spare, extending a promising trend that has boosted the services’ ranks.  The Space Force goal...

WORLD: Space

July 25, 2025
Commerce Cuts Space Traffic Management Program  By Shaun Waterman  The first Trump administration moved to relieve the Space Force of its burden to monitor and warn civilian space operators about potential space traffic hazards. But now, just as the Commerce...