After days of worry that mysterious objects shot down while flying over North America over the past week might be Chinese spycraft or even alien airships, the U.S. intelligence community indicated Feb. 14 that they may be “totally benign” commercial or research balloons.
National Security
Lt. Gen. Alexus G. Grynkewich, commander of Air Forces Central, supports the Pentagon’s broad shift in focus toward countering China, but sees a role for his command to help reassure regional allies and enhance the U.S. military capabilities in the region, he said Feb. 13.
Undersecretary Gina Ortiz Jones, the Department of the Air Force’s No. 2 civilian, is stepping down effective March 6. The department's comptroller, Kristyn E. Jones, will become Acting Undersecretary up her departure, the Air Force said. “Undersecretary Jones has been a tireless advocate for the ...
Some of the most telling information about the Chinese spy balloon was gathered from U-2 flights over the continental U.S.
Beijing has rebuffed Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III’s latest attempt to talk with his Chinese counterpart following the U.S. downing of a Chinese spy balloon, the Pentagon said Feb. 8. The balloon’s intrusion over the continental U.S., and the failure to establish a dialogue ...
Chinese balloons have previously entered U.S. airspace but went undetected by the Pentagon, revealing a gap in American air defenses, NORAD and NORTHCOM commander Gen. Glen D. VanHerck said.
The U.S. will be able to rotate troops and build facilities at four new bases in the Philippines, officials from the two countries announced Feb. 1, as they deepen their military cooperation to counter China.
The Pentagon is tracking what it says is a Chinese surveillance balloon over the continental United States, it said Feb. 2. The U.S. military scrambled two Air Force F-22 Raptors from Nellis Air Force Base, Nev. on Feb. 1 in response to the incident, Air ...
Air Mobility Command boss Gen. Mike Minihan generated international headlines when a memo to his Airmen in which he suggested the U.S. “will fight in 2025” with China leaked to the media. In the days that followed, national security experts and even Airmen themselves have ...