The Air Force would acquire 44 F-35s in fiscal 2023, 11 more than the 33 it requested, under provisions of the Senate’s Defense appropriations bill. The measure also increases funding for classified USAF programs by $2 billion.
Air
A day after publicly disclosing a safety stand-down for its entire fleet of B-2 Spirit bombers, the the Air Force is clarifying that the nuclear-capable B-2 can still fly—if absolutely necessary. Meanwhile, the Department of Defense is probing the Dec. 10 incident at Whiteman Air ...
American nuclear-capable bombers and U.S. and South Korean stealth fighters flew exercises in the skies around the Korean Peninsula on Dec. 20—the latest joint show of force by the allies after recent North Korean tests of missiles and a claimed spy satellite. B-52 Stratofortresses from ...
The military services are leaving capability gaps as they divest of older aircraft but aren't coordinating their tactical aviation spending plans to minimize risk, the Government Accountability Office said in a new report. While the Pentagon agrees that it needs a portfolio approach to fighter ...
The Air Force has ordered a safety stand-down for its entire fleet of B-2 Spirit stealth bombers, after an emergency landing damaged one of the billion-dollar planes Dec. 10 at Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., and closed the base’s only runway.
The Air Force has handed out a $334 million contract to contractor Leidos for “Mayhem,” the secretive program aimed at developing a larger class of hypersonic system, the Pentagon announced Dec. 16. The contract comes more than two years after the Air Force first began asking ...
The many capabilities embodied by the Air Force’s next-generation B-21 Raider extend beyond conventional measures of range, payload, and radar-penetrating stealth—they also include “other things that it can be a part of that could help leverage the agility and the speed that we need to ...
From a nearby tornado to heavy snow to a closed runway, bases hosting the Air Force’s nuclear bomber fleet has dealt with a number of headaches in the past week. Air Force Global Strike Command’s fleet of nuclear-capable bombers, including the B-52 Stratofortress and B-2 ...
The Air Force has disclosed the organizational emblems on the first B-21 bomber, too faint to make out at the aircraft's Dec. 2 rollout. The heraldry is that of Air Force Materiel Command, Global Strike Command, and the 412th Test Wing.