The Air Force is about to start considering alternatives for eventually replacing the B-52 Stratofortress, even as it prepares to upgrade the decades-old aircraft to a J-model featuring new engines, landing gear, avionics, and radar.
Air
A yearslong effort to find an affordable way to turn cargo planes into strike platforms is now an official program with anticipated fielding in 2027.
The U.S. military conducted strikes on Iranian targets around the Strait of Hormuz on May 7, as the conflict with Iran flared up again—though officials say the ceasefire remains in effect.
The Air Force’s BACN may be cooked—the service plans to retire its entire E-11A Battlefield Airborne Communications Node fleet in fiscal 2028 and equip aircraft to use satellite communications instead.
Operations Midnight Hammer and Epic Fury make this crystal clear: Bombers that can precisely deliver large payloads halfway around the world are crucial assets. Given the small size and advanced age of America’s current bomber inventory, it is time to boost investment in the B-21 Raider to ensure long range strike remains a viable option at scale for the foreseeable future.
The Air Force has finished resurrecting a B-1B Lancer, completing a yearslong process to transform a bomber that had been stored for parts in the Arizona desert into the new flagship of the 7th Bomb Wing at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas.
Lockheed Martin’s aeronautics division is getting new leadership, with president Greg Ulmer retiring and Skunk Works general manager O.J. Sanchez tapped to succeed him.
F-22 Raptors from two squadrons have arrived at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, the latest rotation of fighters at the key Japanese base as its awaits its delayed F-15EX Eagle IIs.
Fresh off the first combat deployment of its new EA-37B, the Air Force is nearly doubling the planned number of new electronic attack jets and projecting more than $3 billion in spending on the program in the next five years.