The 89th Airlift Wing is best known for its fleet that transports leaders to red carpet arrivals around the world. Less understood is that the aircraft painted in iconic pale blue and white are also intended to ensure the continuity of U.S. government operations in ...

Verbatim

Nov. 14, 2025
Peace, Not War From this moment forward, the only mission of the newly restored Department of War is this:warfighting, preparing for war and preparing to win, unrelenting and uncompromising in that pursuit not because we want war, no one here...

WORLD: Readiness

Nov. 14, 2025
Wilsbach Is Air Force’s 24th Chief of Staff  By Greg Hadley Gen. Kenneth S. Wilsbach was confirmed as the 24th Air Force Chief of Staff Oct. 30 by unanimous consent. Shortly before, his predecessor, Gen. David W. Allvin, was “clapped”...

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...
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 night operations in the Vietnam War. It was May 1972, an intense period in the war, and they had ...

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...