According to Air Combat Command, the 27th Fighter Squadron, which has been absent from the Air and Space Expeditionary Force rotation as it transitioned to the F-22, will be able to re-join the AEF queue in January 2007. ACC head Gen. Ronald Keys says it wouldn’t surprise him if the unit did deploy to combat duty in Iraq or Afghanistan—if the US is still engaged in those areas. The F-22 and its operators and maintainers, says Keys, are ready to deploy and fight anywhere—as of today.
Happy Birthday US Air Force: 78 Today
Sept. 18, 2025
Seventy-eight years ago today, on Sept. 18, 1947, Supreme Court Chief Justice Fred Vinson swore in Stuart Symington as the first ever Secretary of the Air Force, and the Air Force officially became the first new military service since the Revolutionary War.