Several news outlets are reporting that the Air Force is investigating the death of SSgt. Rom Walters with Air Force Reserve Command’s 944th Fighter Wing at Luke AFB, Ariz. The 40-year-old Reservist died May 27, a day after taking an incentive flight aboard an F-16. According to The (Key West, Fla.) Citizen, the F-16 pilot made an emergency landing Friday afternoon at a Key West airfield, from which Walters was taken to a nearby medical center and then to a hospital in Miami, where he died Saturday night. Elements of the 944th have been in Key West on a training mission.
The rate of building B-21 bombers would speed up if the fiscal 2026 defense budget passes. But it remains unclear how much capacity would be added, and whether the Air Force would simply build the bombers faster, or buy more.
