As Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall looks to modernize the force, he is calling for tough decisions that will shrink the size of the fleet and make the waging of two simultaneous wars “unrealistic,” he said at an AFA Leaders in Action event. Kendall sat ...
Congress
Service members facing potential discharges for refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine received little relief from the House Armed Services Committee as it marked up the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, with a series of provisions challenging the vaccine mandate getting voted down. Troops hoping ...
Amendments in a House version of the fiscal 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) would strengthen U.S. posture and resourcing at U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. One proposal to create a new joint command in Hawaii or Guam comes amid questions as to whether INDOPACOM is doing ...
Several lawmakers on the House Armed Services Committee were disappointed in their effort to force the Air Force into a competition for its KC-Y "bridge tanker." Their proposed amendment failed to make it into the committee’s markup of the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act. The panel ...
One of the Air Force’s top unfunded priorities and a renewed push for a Space National Guard were both approved by the House Armed Services Committee as part of the panel’s marathon markup of the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act. The committee also voted to ...
The Air Force’s plans to divest a sizable chunk of its F-22 fighter fleet has run into its biggest hurdle yet, as the House Armed Services Committee’s mark of the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act would prohibit any such retirements and establish a minimum fleet ...
After years of blocking the Air Force from retiring A-10 attack aircraft, the Senate Armed Services Committee will allow the service to proceed, but not with a new initiative to retire older F-22 Raptor air superiority jets. It also agreed to add seven more jets ...
The services may want to pause buying the F-35 fighter until the Block 4 version is available and possibly curtail the program from reaching planned buys, House Armed Services chairman Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) told defense reporters. Meanwhile, lawmakers should take a hard look at ...
The House Appropriations defense subcommittee rolled out its draft version of the fiscal 2023 defense funding bill, cutting the Air Force’s planned buy of F-15EX fighters and moving to block any changes to the current system of “pass-through” funding. All told, the top line for ...