Why retiring the B-1 too soon could undermine U.S. security. The U.S. Air Force plans to start retiring the B-1 Lancer fleet to make room for the new, sixth-generation B-21 Raider. But the Air Force is planning to do that...
military
Combat airpower requires more planes and more pilots to fly them. The U.S. Air Force is stretched thin by unrelenting rotational and contingency response demands, and its chronic pilot shortage just won’t go away. For more than a decade, the Air...
We love letters! Write to us at letters@afa.org. To be published, letters should be timely, relevant and concise. Include your name and location. Letters may be edited for space and the editors have final say on which are published. Danger,...
As the U.S. Air Force awaits the E-7, Airmen keep the E-3 flying.
War Plans … “The world found out shortly before 2 p.m. Eastern time on March 15 that the United States was bombing Houthi targets across Yemen. I, however, knew two hours before the first bombs exploded that the attack might...
The F-47: Next Generation Air Dominance Boeing Wins Contest to Build the Next Manned Fighter. By Chris Gordon and John A. Tirpak When President Donald Trump announced March 21 that Boeing would build the Next-Generation Air Dominance fighter, he unleashed a...
It’s time to rethink the factors shaping U.S. defense policy. The United States is presently confronted with the most significant national security challenge since its founding. In the past three years, the global deterrence networks that the United States developed...
RAF Lakenheath, U.K. On the night of April 13, 2024, U.S. Air Force crews took to the skies in the Middle East, having received word that Iran had launched one-way attack drones and missiles at Israel. In one F-15E in...
News coming out of the White House since President Donald J. Trump’s inauguration Jan. 20 is striking in its velocity. The subjects of his Executive Orders and policy memos were unsurprising, fulfilling oft-repeated campaign promises, but the speed, volume, and details—or lack of them—caught everyone ...
Mr. Tactical Airpower. William Momyer, known as “Spike,” was an outstanding tactician who was instrumental in developing and implementing air doctrine throughout his career. After graduating from the University of Washington in 1937, he became an aviation cadet and won...
Danger Zone “It’s a different world when China, Russia and the U.S. all have a thousand-plus nuclear weapons in the field. It gets more dangerous as there’s other countries that are proliferating weapons. It gets more dangerous as people think...
Iranian Threats in the Middle East By Chris Gordon When Lt. Col. Dustin Johnson was ordered to deploy to the Middle East last year, he and his fellow F-22 Raptor pilots prepared for an unusual challenge. As America’s premier air...
