Gen. William Looney, writes in a commentary on his first year as head of Air Education and Training Command, that AETC faced a more trying year than usual, with one of its premier training centers devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Among the command’s accomplishments, Looney noted that it had graduated 22,000 new enlisted airmen even as it restructured Basic Military Training “to match a typical” Air and Space Expeditionary Force cycle. AETC’s 19th Air Force flew nearly 560,000 hours, graduating 1,259 pilots and almost 20,000 new aircrew members. Collectively, writes Looney, the command “recruited, trained, and educated more than 432,000 airmen.”
KC-46’s Refueling Boom Damaged While Refueling F-22s
July 8, 2025
A U.S. Air Force KC-46 tanker suffered damage to its boom while refueling F-22 Raptors off the coast of Virginia on July 8, Air & Space Forces Magazine has confirmed, with reported radio communication from the crew indicating the boom “detached.”