Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, one of two National Guard members shot in a Washington, D.C., attack, will soon be awarded the Purple Heart.
News
More stealthy U.S. fighter jets moved closer to the Middle East on Feb. 9, with a half dozen F–35A Lightning II fifth-generation planes landing at RAF Lakenheath, U.K., after crossing the Atlantic, flight tracking data and air traffic control communications show.
The first T-7A trainer jet touched down at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph nearly two months ago to a welcome celebration filled with proclamations about the aircraft's future. Now, for the next 20 months or so 14 pilots and two weapon systems officers with the 99th Flying Training Squadron are mastering the T-7s every idiosyncrasy.
A new report from the Government Accountability Office calls for the Pentagon’s Chief Technology Officer to have budget certification authority over the military services’ research and development accounts—a move the services say would add a burdensome and unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.
Leadership at the U.S. Air Force Academy is getting an overhaul as both Superintendent Lt. Gen. Tony Bauernfeind and Commandant of Cadets Brig. Gen. Gavin Marks will retire later this year and a new dean of faculty, Col. James Valpiani, is set to take charge of the instructors.
Tell us who you think we should highlight here. Write to letters@afa.org U.S. Air Force Maj. Andre “Guns” Golson, a 31st Operations Support Squadron F-16 fighter pilot at Aviano Air Base, Italy, earned the Lt. Gen. Claire Lee Chennault Award...
Air Force Basic Training’s Mock Airfields By Matthew Cox Second Air Force officials plan to inject more realism in Basic Military Training this year by building two mock airfields where Airmen will get hands-on training with real combat aircraft. By...
How the Air Force Cleared the Way for Delta Force. The daring raid on Caracas, Venezuela, to snatch and grab Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro may have been characterized by Secretary of State Marco Rubio as a law enforcement operation, but...
Retiring after 40 years of aerospace and defense journalism—31 years with Air & Space Forces Magazine—John Tirpak offers observations and advice on how to tell the Air Force’s continuing story. O ver the past few decades, the Air Force’s cumulative budget...

