The Senate on July 22 confirmed Gina Ortiz Jones to be the next under secretary of the Air Force, giving the service a No. 2 civilian leader while the nominee to lead the service remains in limbo. Ortiz Jones, along with five other Defense Department nominees, were approved by unanimous consent in the Senate. The vote came exactly one month after the Senate Armed Services Committee advanced her nomination. Frank Kendall's nomination to be Secretary of the Air Force remains on hold.

The Senate Armed Services Committee voted to approve its markup of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2022, increasing the top line of President Joe Biden’s defense budget by $25 billion while seemingly nixing the possibility of a Space National Guard. The markup was approved 23-3 on July 22 and a summary released July 23, detailing roughly $740 billion in spending for the Defense Department. Included in both versions of the budget is a 2.7 percent pay raise for troops.

The successor to the RQ-4 Global Hawk should be available for service late in this decade, Lt. Gen. David S. Nahom, Air Force deputy chief of staff for plans and programs, told the Senate Appropriations Committee on July 21. Answering questions on divestitures of systems the Air Force wants to make in order to free up funds for new technologies, Nahom said the Block 40 Global Hawk fleet is no longer survivable against modern air defenses and that its replacement is coming, but not swiftly.

The Air National Guard will get the next two tranches of KC-46 Pegasus tankers, at locations to be decided within the next 12 months, Deputy Chief of Staff for Plans and Programs Lt. Gen. David S. Nahom told the Senate Appropriations Committee on July 21. "The next two beddown locations for the Air National Guard, we're actually going to have that conversation in the next year,” Nahom said at a hearing to discuss divestitures of USAF aircraft to pay for modernization. “And of the Air National Guard units flying the KC-135 now, we're going to transition two of those” to fly some of the planned 179 KC-46s, Nahom added.

For the first time in more than a year, family and friends were able to gather in person July 22 to watch as loved ones graduated from Air Force Basic Military Training. Restrictions were still in place at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas, to prevent the spread of COVID-19, but the inclusion of several hundred guests in the stands still made for a celebratory atmosphere and a stark change after 16 months of ceremonies without crowds. The last ceremony with guests was March 13, 2020.

The Afghan military’s future is in question because of the lack of a reliable source of fuel as the U.S. withdraws. About half of the fuel provided to the country’s fighting forces reportedly is being stolen, and the U.S. military, which has poured billions of dollars into creating a fuel source for Afghan forces, does not have a solid plan for transferring its authority, according to a new watchdog report. The Defense Department, from 2010 to 2020, has spent $3.74 billion on fuel for Afghanistan, with another $1.45 billion expected through 2025, according to the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, in a report released July 21. The Afghan National Self Defense Forces use the fuel to provide electricity for bases, operate vehicles, and fly aircraft.