The Exercise King: USAF’s B-2 bombers—and their aircrews and maintainers—are using back-to-back exercises to practice for long duration missions and continuous operations. This week it’s Valiant Shield run out of Guam and the previous two weeks it was Northern Edge out of Alaska, both of which have been orchestrated by Pacific Air Forces’ new Kenney Headquarters. Flying out of Andersen AFB, Guam, the B-2 force from Whiteman AFB, Mo., has conducted consecutive training missions—both pilots and maintainers performing at a high ops tempo—and matching up with a wide variety of joint aircraft. In Alaska, the B-2s flew 24-hour sorties followed by strikes on multiple dynamic targets and were paired up with USAF’s other premier stealth aircraft, the F-22 for a “kick-down-the-door” mission. (Read more here.)
The last remaining T-1 Jayhawk at JBSA-Randolph, Texas, took its final flight to the "Boneyard" at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., on July 15. The 99th Flying Training Squadron will train pilots using T-6 and simulator until it gets T-7 Red Hawk in fiscal 2026.