As Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened Ukraine in early February, amassing some 150,000 troops along its border, worrying NATO allies, the U.S. Air Force needed to reassure eastern flank Allies, and fast. The 480th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, answered the call. ...
National Security
MIHAIL KOGALNICEANU AIR BASE, Romania—NATO jets scrambled from this Romanian base four times in the last 20 days to intercept Russian fighters that launched from Crimea, flying toward NATO territory along the Black Sea coast. Each time, the Russian jets turned away without incident, but ...
The Senate confirmed William LaPlante to be the Pentagon's undersecretary for acquisition and sustainment on April 7. LaPlante is a seasoned acquisition and defense professional, having served in key technology jobs in the Pentagon--where he last was Air Force acquisition executive--to industry, where he was ...
As commercial satellites feed images from Ukraine to U.S. space and intelligence agencies in a historically collaborative effort, Space Force leaders are eager to learn how else they can put the commercial sector to work for the service.
NATO Air Command pivoted quickly when Russia invaded Ukraine and deployed U.S. assets to conduct enhanced Air Policing in the Black Sea region, where years of investment are now bearing fruit. “We are living a new normal,” Romanian Air Chief Lt. Gen. Viorel Pana told ...
The Air Force is poised to have two new heads of major commands, as President Joe Biden nominated Lt. Gen. Duke Z. Richardson to receive a fourth star and lead Air Force Materiel Command and Lt. Gen. Brian S. Robinson to take over Air Education ...
Romanian government officials who spoke to Air Force Magazine in Bucharest worried that Russian President Vladimir Putin appears to be moving towards a strategy of uniting the Russian-speaking areas of Ukraine under Moscow’s control. The move to reposition Russian forces in Ukraine's south and east ...
In the lead-up to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, "hunt-forward" teams deployed from U.S. Cyber Command to help the Ukrainians harden their networks and identify vulnerabilities—an early defensive play in a conflict that would be dominated by information operations and cyber threats. CYBERCOM also provided remote ...
With many lawmakers already pushing to increase the top line of the Pentagon’s fiscal 2023 budget, top defense officials acknowledged April 5 that their budget request was based off inflation rates that were “incorrect.” At the same time, they argued, the $773 billion request would ...