A-10 Thunderbolt II attack planes in the Middle East are flying with fresh modifications as the Air Force looks to make the plane more versatile amid America’s ongoing blockade of Iranian ports and a tenuous ceasefire in the U.S. air war against Iran.
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Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Kenneth S. Wilsbach told lawmakers this week there will be no gap in the service’s close air support capabilities under its latest plan to retire the venerable A-10 Thunderbolt II at the start of the next decade.
Space Force has awarded a $90 million contract to Rocket Lab for satellites to host payloads that tracks objects in geosynchronous orbit.
At Air Education & Training Command, where new pilots get their start, the next wave of flight simulators is continuing.
The Air Force pulled a KC-135 out of storage at the “Boneyard” in early April, three weeks after another one of the service’s Stratotankers crashed in Iraq during Operation Epic Fury.
The YFQ-42A Collaborative Combat Aircraft has resumed flight testing after a six-week pause initiated when one of the drones crashed in early April.
The first F-15EX Eagle IIs will arrive at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan, in 2027—a year later than originally planned—and the last of 36 planned fighters will likely get there in 2028, Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said May 21.
As the Space Force makes plans for two on-orbit refueling and maneuver demonstrations in 2027—and closely watches similar government and commercial endeavors—the service official overseeing the effort say he want to take these capabilities from demo to operations in short order.
To counter Chinese ambitions, the U.S. Space Force must start work now to put Guardians in orbit and on the moon in the decades to come, according to a new paper from AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.