2024 USAF & USSF Almanac: Glossary of Acronyms & Abbreviations

‘A Chunk Taken Out of His Spine’: F-16, KC-46 in Refueling Incident over Europe

June 28, 2024

A U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter and a KC-46 Pegasus tanker were involved in an aerial refueling incident off the coast of the Netherlands on June 27, service officials told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

New Training Program Gives One MQ-9 Maintainer the Skills of Three

June 27, 2024

A new training initiative at Holloman Air Force Base, N.M., is helping MQ-9 maintainers expand their specialties, essentially giving one Airman the skills of three to be able to generate sorties with minimal crews.

Air Force Confirms Its F-35As Were Mission Capable About Half the Time in 2023

June 27, 2024

The F-35A mission capable rate for fiscal 2023 was 51.9 percent, or just over half the time, the Air Force reported. Officials attributed parts availability as the culprit, but the fighter’s MC rate has been declining since it peaked in 2020, and the Air Force will be spending more per…

Air Force Releases First Video of XQ-67 Drone, a CCA Prototype, in Flight

June 27, 2024

The Air Force released the first video of a new experimental drone in flight. General Atomics’ XQ-67A is intended to prepare the service for its future fleet of autonomous collaborative combat aircraft, and the company has called the drone a “CCA prototype."

SPACECOM Boss Wants Satellites That Can Maneuver to and from New Orbits

June 26, 2024

U.S. Space Command is interested in orbits around Earth outside the traditional regions where satellites operate, and commander Gen. Stephen N. Whiting sees refuelable spacecraft as a possible key to getting to them.

B-52s Take Off from US Base with JASSM Cruise Missiles for ‘Unique’ Exercise

June 26, 2024

Airmen from Barksdale Air Force Base's 2nd Bomb Wing carried out an unusual exercise June 10-13 during which they loaded AMG-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles, or JASSMs, onto B-52H Stratofortresses to test their ability to conduct long-range conventional airstrike missions.

DARPA Announces a New Flying-Wing Reconnaissance X-Plane: XRQ-73

June 25, 2024

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has assigned the designation XRQ-73 to its newest “X-plane,” an autonomous flying wing reconnaissance aircraft prototype with extra-quiet propulsion that is expected to fly this year, the agency announced June 24.

Promotions Blast Off: Three of Every Four Guardians Make NCO Ranks

June 25, 2024

Nearly every Guardian in the Space Force who was eligible for promotion to sergeant this year made it, with a selection rate of 95.66 percent, the Air Force Personnel Center announced June 24. Almost two-thirds—63.87 percent—of those seeking to become technical sergeant were selected as well, as the Space Force grows its…

Two B-52 Bombers Fly Rare Mission in Support of SOUTHCOM

June 25, 2024

Two B-52 bombers from Barksdale Air Force Base flew a mission in the U.S. Southern Command area of responsibility last week, a relatively rare trip below the equator. The sortie comes on the heels of SOUTHCOM’s three-week multilateral exercise, Resolute Sentinel, which wrapped up June 14.

2024 USAF & USSF Almanac: Glossary of Acronyms & Abbreviations

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