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 ...
military
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...
The Air Force is performing a force-wide safety inspection on every one of its M18 9mm pistols as the service investigates the circumstances around the July 20 discharge of the service pistol that killed a 21-year-old security forces Airman.
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 ...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Major Exercises Kick Off By Greg Hadley The Air Force and Space Force kicked off a busy summer of major exercises across the Pacific on July 8, with thousands of Airmen and Guardians set to participate in a series of...
Air Force Pushes Ahead with 2 Hypersonic Missile Programs By John A. Tirpak The Air Force’s Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (HACM) is delayed and may significantly overrun its expected cost, which could partially explain why the service is reviving the...
By the time the 2026 defense budget request arrived on Capitol Hill in June, Congress was closing in on passage of the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act, a massive tax-and-spending bill that included some $150 billion for defense. The budget reconciliation measure narrowly passed the ...
The proliferation of small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has shaken up the military world, fueling concern that UAVs could revolutionize airpower concepts and even negate the need for air superiority as a fundamental objective of airpower strategy. These perspectives suffer from a collective airpower amnesia ...
