As of Feb. 22, Air Combat Command has 63 F-16s with cracked bulkheads, noted ACC boss Gen. John Corley. Fortunately, even though some of these Vipers are grounded, the problem is not as severe as it is for the F-15s that have defective longerons. The difference, he explained, is that ACC’s analysis predicts that an F-16’s cracked bulkhead does not create a structural “single point failure” that will lead to a catastrophic failure. Nonetheless, the problem needs to be fixed as the F-16s go through depot, and the number of affected fighters, which changes constantly, has been trending upwards.
A provision in the fiscal 2025 defense policy bill will require the Defense Department to include the military occupational specialty of service members who die by suicide in its annual report on suicide deaths, though it remains to be seen how much data the department will actually disclose.