Air Force leaders are urging members of Congress to sit down with them in a classified setting so they can better understand the service’s thinking behind its fiscal 2021 budget request, which once again attempts to retire a host of legacy platforms to free up ...
Congress
Lawmakers are beginning to weigh how the fiscal 2021 defense policy bill could help solve the KC-46 tanker program’s woes and speed its introduction into regular operations. Congress could dictate the terms of how Boeing should fix the tanker’s faulty remote vision system and how ...
Space Force Vice Commander Lt. Gen. David Thompson indicated the military will add new locations to the list of bases under consideration for U.S. Space Command headquarters, saying some unexpected places could become home to parts of the new Space Force as well. “We’re now ...
The Air Force needs 2,100 more pilots to reach its goal of 21,000 aviators, indicating that efforts to stem the pilot shortage have not yet been successful. “Increasing production of new aviators remains the most significant lever we have to arrest aircrew shortages,” service officials ...
Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein told Senate legislators March 3 the service will not use the new KC-46 tanker unless absolutely necessary to fight a powerful adversary. The wide-ranging Senate Armed Services Committee hearing—the first of multiple chances the Air Force has this week ...
The Department of the Air Force is finished internally coordinating which USAF units will move into the Space Force and is awaiting Secretary Barbara Barrett’s approval, a top space official said Feb. 27. The first group of people who will be asked to re-commission and ...
PATRICK AIR FORCE BASE, Fla.—Space Force officials here want federal lawmakers to tweak spending rules so the military can use money from private companies to pay for infrastructure changes to the launch range at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. “We're going to have to come ...
Lawmakers on Feb. 26 signaled a harsh fight ahead over the Pentagon's plans to retire aging aircraft and shift spending from weapons systems to border wall protection. The Defense Department’s total $705.4 billion fiscal 2021 request looks to retire dozens of USAF aircraft. Defense Secretary ...
Heading into budget negotiation season, the three civilian heads of the armed forces outlined their looming struggles with Capitol Hill at a Feb. 21 Center for Strategic and International Studies panel. Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett said it’s harder to convince lawmakers of the merits ...