As the Air Force battles a persistent pilot shortage made worse by aging training aircraft, the service has started approaching its current pilots earlier in their careers to offer retention incentives, hoping to convince them to stay in the military longer, Vice Chief of Staff ...
Congress
The Air Force’s fleet may shift from fighter-heavy to bomber-heavy in the future, but not in the near term, Secretary Frank Kendall told the Senate Armed Services Committee. Accelerating production of the B-21 would require adding considerably more tooling and capacity, he added.
The Air Force plans to get production of the classified AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile underway this year and will equip its new Collaborative Combat Aircraft with the weapon, senior USAF leaders said at a Senate Armed Services Hearing.
The Air Force will consider the Army’s freshly-chosen Bell V-280 tiltrotor as a possible combat search and rescue platform for work in contested airspace, but will also look at other technical options, including the CV-22 as an interim solution, Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q., ...
The planned Special Operations “Power Projection Wing” at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., will include MC-130s, AC-130s, and “light attack” aircraft, Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. told Congress on April 27. The new mix of Air Force Special Operations Command aircraft will replace ...
A year after the Department of Defense was to report to Congress on whether it could declassify more Space Force programs, lawmakers are still waiting. Pentagon officials say only that they’re working the issue.
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall clearly regrets that the service isn’t pursuing an advanced technology engine for the F-35.
Retiring Air Force Futures director Lt. Gen. Clinton Hinote, in his last testimony before Congress, said he worries the service isn’t leaving future Airmen a force “that wins,” and without the changes requested in the fiscal 2024 budget, needed transformation could “come off the rails.”
The Pentagon’s top civilian and military leaders for Europe reiterated to Congress that providing modern Western fighter jets like the F-16 to Ukraine is not an immediate priority for the Department of Defense—even as they warned that Russia’s air force remains a serious threat to ...