Almanac: USAF & USSF Wings

Space Force leaders are contemplating separating out the service’s boot camp from the Air Force and moving it to a new location. 

Senate and House lawmakers released their compromise 2025 National Defense Authorization bill on Dec. 7—the proposed legislation would give a 14.5 percent pay raise to junior enlisted Airmen and Guardians and prohibit the Air Force from retiring any F-15E or F-22 fighters.

The Air Force’s first new warrant officers in 66 years graduated Dec. 6 at a ceremony at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., the inaugural class of the new Warrant Officer Training School.

A pair of Air Force major generals have been nominated to become three stars and the first commanders of new centers formulated as part of the service’s “Great Power Competition” changes. 

The Air Force has begun a sweeping overhaul of its education and training programs with the standup of new centers that will be part of the future Airman Development Command that is scheduled to come online next year, service officials said.

The first Air Force warrant officers in 66 years will join the force on Dec. 6 after an all-out sprint to stand up the program in just 296 days.

The Air Force permanently stood up the new Air Force Accessions Center on Dec. 2, a move officials hope will improve coordination and consistency between the service’s various organs for bringing in new Airmen and Guardians, particularly officers.

The Government Accountability Office wants the Air Force to explain who will run bases when wings deploy under the service’s new force generation model along with several other unanswered questions, saying the concept is long on vision but short on details.

A recent watchdog report found that the Air Force has one of the best officer performance evaluation systems among the services, but it falls short in two key areas.