A U-2 from Beale AFB, Calif., deployed to Nellis AFB, Nev., to participate in a Red Flag exercise this month for the first time in more than 20 years. The 9th Reconnaissance Wing regularly supports Red Flag, but typically the wing’s U-2s fly from their home base in California. This time, however, pilots and maintainers got the chance to experience what it is like to operate from a “bare-base,” according to an Air Combat Command release. “We normally operate from already established forward operating locations,” U-2 Maintenance Superintendent SMSgt. David Hatch said in the release. “It’s a rare opportunity to come out and test this skill set. It’s like anything else, if you don’t use it, you lose it.” The U-2 will fly through the end of Red Flag 16-3 on July 29. As part of the exercise, the U-2 is practicing operating in contested and degraded operations, Hatch said.
Air Force Using AI to Plan Storage for Munitions
Nov. 13, 2025
When lawmakers and outside experts turn their attention to how the U.S. military can use of artificial intelligence, they tend to focus on weapons systems—the most consequential and risk-laden use cases—and on generative AI. But behind the scenes, the Air Force is already using machine learning algorithms to help solve…
