The Air Force trimmed 120 airplanes from its fleet in fiscal 2021, gaining the most aircraft among its F-35 fighter squadrons and giving up the most from its B-1 bomber units, according to data provided by the Air Force. With puts and takes, the Air ...
USAF bomber fleet
The Air Force will hold 45 B-1 bombers in service until a sufficient number of B-21 bombers are on hand to replace them, service leaders told a House Armed Services readiness hearing. They also reveled that the first two B-21s are complete and ready for ...
With upcoming budget deliberations and an expected Nuclear Posture Review, Air Force and U.S. Strategic Command leaders are making the case that the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent is a critical program and is actually cheaper than extending the life of the aging Minuteman III. Other modernization ...
A B-1 Lancer assigned to the Air Force's 7th Bomb Wing supported training for foreign joint terminal attack controllers and integrated with Swedish Gripen fighters during a Bomber Task Force mission in Norway and Sweden on March 8, according to a U.S. Air Forces in ...
The new Bomber Task Force concept is operationally successful, and is also a hit with aircrews, whose morale has increased with the flurry of short-term visits to nontraditional bomber destinations like India and Norway, Global Strike Command chief Gen. Timothy M. Ray said Feb. 25. ...
A smaller fleet, fatigue tests and continuous depot repairs should keep B-1s flying until the B-21 joins the force.
The first flight of the secretive B-21 bomber has slipped to mid-2022, but the program is moving along well, Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office director Randall Walden said in an exclusive interview. The second copy of the B-21, which will be used for structural testing, ...
The other military services should defend USAF's air bases as the “tax” to enjoy the many benefits the Air Force provides them in terms of communications, mobility, and protection, Deputy Chief of Staff for operations Lt. Gen. Joseph T. Guastella Jr. said Dec. 8. The ...
House-Senate Conferees require a larger Air Force in the final version of the fiscal 2021 defense bill, directing the service to build the 386 combat squadrons it said it needs to meet the National Defense Strategy, and specifically raising the bomber fleet to 225 aircraft, ...
Why bombers are the most flexible leg in the nuclear triad.
The structural fatigue test of the B-1B bomber, which began in 2012 and was initially expected to take five years, will wrap up in 2021, an Air Force Materiel Command spokesman told Air Force Magazine. The test will stress the B-1 to 28,000 hours on ...
The U.S. Air Force is leading the way within the military on adopting new technologies and adapting how it operates to be ready for “great power competition,” both with technological advancements such as the Advanced Battle Management System and new ways to deploy aircraft such ...
