Building the Pilot Force

China is set to increase its military activity around Alaska, likely including bomber flights, the top U.S. general in charge of defending North America said Feb. 13.

More than one-eighth of the U.S. Air Force’s entire fleet of F-22 Raptors lined the runway at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va., on Jan. 31, as the 1st Fighter Wing flexed its ability to rapidly put airpower into action.

Maintainers swarmed an F-35 at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., last month, testing out a procedure that has become common for older fighters but has never done before on the service’s fifth-generation jets: a “hot” integrated combat turn.

B-52H Stratofortress bombers have landed in England to kick off the U.S. Air Force’s first European bomber deployment of the year, service officials said Feb. 12. Some of the B-52s have already flown alongside French Dassault Rafales, Swedish Saab JAS-39 Gripens, and Finnish F/A-18 Hornets.

The Air Force is delaying the start of the promotion testing cycle for technical sergeants two weeks, citing the need to purge study materials of content on diversity, equity, and inclusion to follow executive orders from President Donald Trump.

Operational testing of the MH-139A Grey Wolf helicopter could be delayed if all the necessary fixes to the system aren’t made in time, the Pentagon’s Director of Operational Testing said. Dust ingestion, gun issues, software, and the intercom are among the problems to be ironed out.

The Space Force may have stopped work on its Futures Command, but the service is still crafting future plans, to include a strategy for how it will work with international partners, a top official said. 

The Air Force is suspending work on a significant part of its new Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile program, ordering a pause on the design and construction of launch facilities being developed by Northrop Grumman.

The Air Force pieced together two damaged F-35s into one stealth fighter, dubbed 'Franken-bird.' The jet took its initial flight and is set to be combat-ready by March.