The Air Force has ordered safety inspections for its entire fleets of KC-135 tankers, RC-135 reconnaissance planes, and WC-135 “nuke sniffers” over poorly-made tail pins, preventing aircraft from flying until they are cleared. The Time Compliance Technical Order (TCTO), issued Feb. 14, affects hundreds of aircraft. ...
RC-135
The Pentagon is tracking what it says is a Chinese surveillance balloon over the continental United States, it said Feb. 2. The U.S. military scrambled two Air Force F-22 Raptors from Nellis Air Force Base, Nev. on Feb. 1 in response to the incident, Air ...
Despite a public plea by Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III to open up lines of communications following a dangerous near-miss between American and Chinese jets last month, the U.S. and China have not held top-level military conversations recently, and there are no set ...
The American and Chinese militaries are trading blame after a close call between two warplanes over the South China Sea on Dec. 21, as a Chinese fighter jet came within a few yards of a U.S. Air Force RC-135 Rivet Joint over the South China ...
Legacy aircraft such as the KC-10, KC-135, E-8C JSTARS, RC-135, and RQ-4 all flew over eastern NATO allies including Poland and Romania in response to Russian aggression. But these platforms still need to be retired so the Air Force can modernize, Chief of Staff Gen. ...
Total aircraft inventory; aircraft inventory trends; ICBM and satellite inventory; aircraft age; tail codes.
As the United States closes out its participation in the 1992 Open Skies Treaty, some in government are starting to consider what might come next for the Air Force unit that has handled those foreign surveillance flights for decades. Lawmakers earlier this month released a ...
Every year, Congress and the military debate which combat assets should head to the boneyard and which have more life left in them. Lawmakers often opt to keep Air Force systems that bring jobs to their districts, which complicates matters as the service looks to ...
The second ABMS on-ramp experiment offers a peek into the future of JADC2.
Lt. Gen. David W. Allvin is on deck to become the Air Force’s next vice chief of staff, the Pentagon announced Aug. 14. President Donald J. Trump nominated Allvin to succeed Gen. Stephen W. “Seve” Wilson, who has been the Air Force’s second-highest officer since ...
Russia purportedly intercepted a U.S. Air Force RC-135 surveillance plane and a U.S. Navy P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft over the Black Sea on July 30. Neither American aircraft crossed the Russian border, noted the post, which included a 36-second video that appeared to depict ...
The Russian Defense Ministry claims it intercepted a USAF RC-135 reconnaissance plane and an MQ-9 Reaper, as well as a U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, over the Black Sea on July 14. If verified, the Black Sea meeting marks at least the 10th ...
