B-2 Bombers Arrive on Diego Garcia in Unusual Show of Force

B-2 Bombers Arrive on Diego Garcia in Unusual Show of Force

March 27, 2025 | By Unshin Lee Harpley

B-2 Spirit bombers have landed on Diego Garcia, a tiny island in the Indian Ocean that serves as a strategic hub for operations everywhere from the Middle East to Africa to the Indo-Pacific, a spokesperson for Air Force Global Strike Command confirmed to Air & Space Forces Magazine.

Confirmation of the bombers’ arrival comes after days of speculation, fueled by aviation enthusiasts and open-source intelligence analysts tracking movements using FAA identifiers, radio transmissions, and flight tracking data.

It’s an unusual deployment for the B-2. While Diego Garcia hosts Air Force bombers on a fairly regular basis, B-2s haven’t spent significant time there since 2020. Last August marked the first time in four years that a B-2 even touched down there when a bomber made a quick “hot pit” stop with its engines running.

A spokesperson for AFGSC said multiple bombers are on the island but could not comment on why they are there. An official previously said that the command “routinely conducts global operations … to deter, detect and, if necessary, defeat strategic attacks against the United States and its allies.”

It is possible the B-2s are deploying as part of regularly scheduled Bomber Task Force rotation—Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia has supported BTFs before. They could also be set to join the U.S.’s recently expanded air campaign against the Houthis in Yemen. B-2s were used to bomb the Houthis last October, though they did not fly to Diego Garcia for that mission.

According to flight tracking data and open-source intelligence, C-17 cargo planes and KC-135 tankers are supporting the bombers.

Diego Garcia is a British Indian Ocean Territory and a vital location for U.S. defense operations across the Middle East, east Africa, and south Asia. While the U.K. retains sovereignty, Washington controls the island’s military base through a 1966 lease agreement.

On March 26, trackers noted KC-135s were refueling multiple B-2s in the air. A snippet of air traffic control audio surfaced March 25, featuring the call sign “ABBA 11 cleared to destination FJDG.” FJDG is the FAA identifier for Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia.

Additionally, an aviation tracker posted footage of a B-2 bomber landing at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii. A radio clip posted on social media confirms that the stealth bomber with the call sign PITCH 13 declared “the termination of the emergency” upon landing.

The AFGSC spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine that one B-2 “landed safely” at the Hawaiian base, but declined to provide details regarding the cause of the emergency, or the bomber’s intended destination. The B-2 has since departed Hawaii, according to the individual who shared the video clip.

The aircraft movements come only days after the U.S. military told Air & Space Forces Magazine that it is expected to send additional aircraft to the Middle East. The Pentagon has conducted multiple waves of strikes targeting Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen, after U.S. Air Force fighters helped fend off a drone attack by the Houthis in retaliation for an earlier round of U.S. strikes.

The Trump administration has intensified its campaign against the Iranian-backed Houthis, who have been waging war on shipping in the Gulf of Aden, Red Sea, and Bab El-Mandeb Strait for over a year, launching hundreds of attacks. The administration has indicated plans to continue using U.S. military force against the Houthis until they halt their assaults on commercial shipping and U.S. Navy vessels in the region.

Saltzman Wants ‘Fundamental Shift’ in Space Force Budget

Saltzman Wants ‘Fundamental Shift’ in Space Force Budget

March 26, 2025 | By Greg Hadley

The Space Force budget needs a budget increase that could approach 20 percent, a “step function shift” necessary to fulfill USSF’s growing mission profile, Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman said March 26.

Saltzman made the pitch during a visit with AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, in response to a recently published report that recommended President Donald Trump’s administration increase spending on the Space Force by 13 to 18 percent annually. Asked if that would be enough, Saltzman replied, “maybe not.” 

The Space Force needs to “a fundamental shift, a step function shift” to build new capabilities and respond to Chinese and Russian investment in order to hold their space assets at risk while protecting U.S. satellites in space. 

“Just doing 3 or 4 percent inflation increases doesn’t buy us new capability,” Saltzman said. “We’re just treading water. And so I think that’s really been our pitch … new missions require new resources, and that’s going to be a step function for the Space Force.”

The Biden administration sought a $30 billion budget for the Space Force in fiscal 2024, but Congress approved a little less; then in fiscal 2025, the Pentagon cut the Space Force budget, requesting $29.4 billion—the first proposed budget cut in the service’s five-year history. But Congress failed to pass a 2025 budget, passing instead a continuing resolution that will fund the government through September, that effectively cut Space Force investment to only about $28.8 billion. 

Cutting the force when it’s being asked to do more and take on new missions is untenable, he said.

USSF needs “$10 billion in the near term, plussing up our current resources,” Saltzman said. “We can spend that.” 

While the first budget of the new Trump administration is still being formulated, Saltzman’s comments suggest a growing confidence among Department of the Air Force leaders that years of short budgets could be coming to an end. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recently directed Defense Department organizations to identify options to cut 8 percent of their budgets so that money can be reallocated to other priorities. Saltzman said he expects the Space Force to benefit from that reallocation.

“I’m very hopeful that the case that the Space Force makes means that a lot of that money will come back into our budget,” Saltzman said.

Like other military branches and DOD agencies, the Space Force had to identify things it could cut. The CSO did not detail those proposed cuts, believing they will ultimately be funded. And he cited initiatives, like the Golden Dome missile defense shield, as factors likely to increase the topline. 

Adding to Saltzman’s confidence were comments Hegseth made at a gathering of senior Department of the Air Force leaders. Saltzman said Hegseth called space “the next and the most important domain of warfare” and pledged “far more investment” in both offensive and defensive capabilities. 

“If you don’t have space superiority, you can’t enable all the other functions,” Saltzman said. “Secretary Hegseth understands that. So that’s why I’m not uncomfortable with this reprioritization drill in the FY ’26 budget.”  

Offensive space, or the ability to control the space domain, has emerged as one of Saltzman’s major priorities, one that will require significant investment. 

Meanwhile, with more than six months remaining in fiscal 2025, Saltzman still has work to do this year. The year-long continuing resolution does enable Space Force leaders to change some investment plans and to start new programs, but overall it left the Space Force underfunded compared to prior years.  

“The bottom line is our appropriated money is less than we had in ’24, so we are literally shrinking in resources as a Space Force,” Saltzman lamented. “We have less to do more with. That’s a concern, and it’s starting to be a trend. We’re starting to be able to connect some dots that over the last few years, even if you don’t account for inflationary adjustments, we’re still shrinking in real dollars. We’re trying to work hard on resolving that as we go forward on ’26.” 

The ponderous Pentagon budget process means that today’s funding levels date back to planning that took place in the fall of 2022, when the fiscal 2024 budget request was set. And because the fiscal 2026 budget request has not yet been submitted, the entire process for that budget is well behind schedule, making another CR to start fiscal 2026 likely. If that happens, the Space Force will have gone nearly three without being resourced against a threat that is rapidly changing and growing simultaneously.  

“That is stagnant,” Saltzman said. “In the face of an adversary who is not stagnant, I’m worried that we’re not going to be able to keep pace, certainly the way we want to.” 

Space Force Clears ULA’s New Rocket to Compete with SpaceX

Space Force Clears ULA’s New Rocket to Compete with SpaceX

March 26, 2025 | By Greg Hadley

The Space Force certified United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rocket to carry its most important national security missions into space—clearing the way for a series of new launch missions this year and giving SpaceX a little competition. 

Space Systems Command announced the decision March 26, clearing the rocket for the National Security Space Launch program, which represents space missions that can tolerate the lowest possible risk.  

ULA endured a comprehensive certification process for Vulcan Centaur, SSC said in a release, covering “52 certification criteria, including more than 180 discrete tasks, 2 certification flight demonstrations, 60 payload interface requirement verifications, 18 subsystem design and test reviews, and 114 hardware and software audits.” 

Vulcan Centaur replaces ULA’s Delta IV rocket, which had been certified for NSSL missions, but completed its final launch in April 2024. Since then, SpaceX’s Falcon rockets have been the only option for NSSL missions, making SpaceX a dominant force in the launch market.

“We definitely want to make sure that the industrial base is as broad as possible,” declared Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman at this month’s AFA Warfare Symposium. “That gives us more assurances that we will have ready access to the kinds of capabilities we need across all of the different orbital regimes and weight classes that we have to put capabilities in space.” 

The Space Force had assigned more than a dozen missions to ULA which could not be flown until Vulcan was certified. Among them: small satellites for the Space Development Agency, new GPS satellites, classified payloads for the Space Force and National Reconnaissance Office, and experimental payloads for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. One launch was redirected to SpaceX during this time.

Space Systems Command said Vulcan’s first NSSL launch will be this summer, likely to include some of the 100 satellite launches the Space Force hopes to deploy in 2025. 

In a statement, ULA president Tory Bruno thanked his government customers for their partnership. “Thank you to all our customer partners who have worked hand-in-hand with us throughout this comprehensive certification process,” he said. “We are grateful for the collaboration and excited to reach this critical milestone in Vulcan development.” 

Brig. Gen. Kristin Panzenhagen, program executive officer for assured access to space, said completing the certification locked in “a critical element of national security,” promising that “Vulcan certification adds launch capacity, resiliency, and flexibility needed by our nation’s most critical space-based systems.” 

More competition could be coming soon. Blue Origin launched its New Glenn rocket for the first time last year and is gearing up for another launch in the next few months, in the hopes of also earning NSSL certification. Blue Origin has already been accepted into NSSL’s new “Lane 1” program, which is for commercial-like missions where risk tolerance is greater.

More new launch providers are also trying to get Space Force approval.  

“It was only about 10 years ago when we had like one provider and just a few rocket systems,” Saltzman said earlier this month. “So if you take a long look at this, over the last 10 or 15 years, we’ve really expanded the industrial base in support of launch services. I think we’re on the right trajectory.” 

Air Force Picked Boeing for NGAD Based on ‘Best Overall Value.’ Here’s What It Means

Air Force Picked Boeing for NGAD Based on ‘Best Overall Value.’ Here’s What It Means

March 26, 2025 | By John A. Tirpak

The Air Force made the final choice of Boeing over Lockheed Martin in the Next-Generation Air Dominance competition, and it was based on “best overall value,” a service spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

The winners of some previous competitions for major programs have been decided by higher-level Pentagon officials, such as the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics. But the spokesperson said the Air Force’s acting senior acquisition executive, Darlene J. Costello, approved the NGAD pick, made by an unnamed leader of the evaluation team. There had been speculation that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth or even President Donald Trump would personally select the NGAD winner.

“The Milestone Decision Authority for the NGAD program is the Air Force Senior Acquisition Executive [Costello], who made the decision to proceed with Milestone B,” the spokesperson said. “As a matter of course, we do not reveal the identity of the source selection authority (SSA) in order to protect the integrity of the source selection process. This allows the SSA to operate free of any influence by outside parties and to provide an unbiased decision on the evaluation of the offerors solely based on the criteria set forth in the solicitation.”

Boeing’s proposal, now called the F-47, won because it “represents the best overall value to the government and is best suited to fulfill the Air Force’s requirements,” the spokesperson said. That stands in contrast to other contracts that have been awarded based on “lowest price/technically acceptable,” which is the criteria used when proposals are so evenly matched that cost becomes the key discriminator. A “best overall value” offeror may sometimes have quoted a higher price and was chosen because the source selection authority deemed the proposal more realistic, or if more value was added in the form of far better technical performance, lower-cost maintainability, or other factors.

The Air Force has not revealed the criteria used to judge the two entrants, and the spokesperson said the service “will not release additional details relative to the proposal.”

Industry sources told Air & Space Forces Magazine that past performance was not heavily weighted in the selection and counted for less than 10 percent of the scoring.

Boeing has struggled on current Air Force programs for the KC-46 tanker, T-7 trainer, and Air Force One presidential transport, incurring years of delays and about $10 billion of losses. Lockheed has had issues with delayed F-35 deliveries and stubbornly high operating costs.

Former government officials said Lockheed’s issues were a negative, but perhaps not as much as Boeing’s well-publicized management struggles.

The Air Force said it awarded Boeing a “cost-plus incentive fee contract” for NGAD engineering and manufacturing development, but the contract’s value and details are being withheld due to classification. The Air Force said the EMD contract includes “maturing and testing all aspects of the F-47,” and that this phase “will produce a small number of test aircraft for evaluation.” It also includes “competitively priced options for low-rate initial production.”

Boeing had previously won Air Force contracts with fixed-price offerings, only to eat major losses down the line. As a result, corporate leaders have said they will not bid for fixed-price contracts when it pertains to developing new technology.

Under cost-plus agreements, the government will typically cover overages resulting from maturing new technologies, but Boeing will be able to win additional funds if it meets or beats schedule, technical or cost requirements.

Protest?

Neither the Air Force nor Lockheed Martin would divulge when that company will receive a debrief as to why it was not selected for the contract. Once that happens, though, Lockheed may file a protest if it feels the Air Force did not judge the proposals fairly or gave inordinate weight to certain factors. If it files a protest, the Government Accountability Office has 100 days in which to resolve the issues and decide whether the selection was made fairly.

“We expect the GAO to take the amount of time needed to thoroughly evaluate the record and provide an assessment,” the Air Force spokesperson said.

Major aircraft program awards are frequently protested, because the relatively low cost of a protest could result in billions of dollars in recovered work. Boeing and Lockheed, which teamed up in the 2015 Long-Range Strike Bomber competition, protested Northrop Grumman’s selection, but the GAO upheld that award and Northrop went on to develop the B-21.

However, Boeing succeeded in protesting the award of the KC-X tanker to a team of Northrop and Airbus in 2008, arguing the Air Force didn’t follow its own rules in assessing the entrants. The award was thrown out, the competition was re-run, and in 2011, Boeing won and is now building the KC-46.

When former Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall held off choosing an NGAD winner late in 2024—handing off the choice to the new administration—the Air Force awarded both Boeing and Lockheed technology maturation and risk reduction contracts of an undisclosed amount to keep their design teams together until the program’s future was resolved, or at least until the end of fiscal 2025. The Air Force declined to provide any details about the value of those contracts or what their deliverables might be.

“Contract timelines, costs, and capability deliveries are protected by enhanced security measures,” the service spokesperson said. “No further details are available.”

Engine

The Air Force said the competition for an engine that will power the NGAD fighter is a separate contest unaffected by the selection of Boeing.

The Next-Generation Adaptive Propulsion (NGAP) engine for the sixth-gen fighter “is platform agnostic,” the Air Force said, “and designs can be tailored to an extent for future fighter and other aircraft operating across various mission threads.” It did not specify what other platforms might be able to use the NGAP engine, but the only new designs on the horizon are the Next-Generation Aerial refueling System (NGAS) and later iterations of the autonomous Collaborative Combat Aircraft.

General Electric, with the XA-102, and RTX’s Pratt & Whitney, with the XA-103, are the competitors for the NGAP program. They both recently received contracts to build and test prototypes.

Designation

The Air Force declined to provide the designations or nomenclature for the X-planes it revealed that Boeing and Lockheed flew in the technology demonstration phase of the NGAD program, saying they remain classified.

However, while Boeing’s aircraft is now called the F-47, its X-plane predecessor wasn’t the X-47 or Y-47—the service said Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin himself chose the designation.

The Air Force has a policy governing the designation and naming of aircraft and weapons, with new systems generally going in numerical order. The policy does, however, grant leaders discretion to skip design numbers.

The F-35 was an out-of-sequence selection. Had the Air Force decided to keep going in order from there, the NGAD fighter would have been the F-36 or F-37. Had the service decided to go back to its original sequence, it wold have been F-24 or F-25, following the Lockheed YF-22 and Northrop YF-23 which competed in the Advanced Tactical Fighter Competition.

The B-21 bomber likewise was supposed to carry the nomenclature B-3, but former Air Force Secretary Deborah James opted to name it the B-21 to emphasize that it is a “21st century bomber.”

The spokesperson said Allvin chose F-47 “in consultation with the Secretary of Defense” and the nomenclature “carries multiple significant meanings. It honors the legacy of the P-47, whose contributions to air superiority during World War II remain historic.” It also “pays tribute to the founding year of the Air Force” and recognizes Trump and “the 47th President’s pivotal support for development of the world’s first sixth-generation fighter.” Honorifics have usually been applied to the nickname for an aircraft, not its nomenclature.

End of an Era: Last F-16 for Training US Pilots Leaves Luke

End of an Era: Last F-16 for Training US Pilots Leaves Luke

March 26, 2025 | By David Roza

After 42 years and more than 20,000 pilots, the last U.S. Air Force F-16 at Luke Air Force Base, Ariz., took off March 24 en route to its new home with the 16th Weapons Squadron at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev.

There are still F-16s at Luke: the Republic of Singapore Air Force owns several for training RSAF pilots and maintainers with Luke’s 425th Fighter Squadron, and Top Aces, the private “red air” contractor that acts as adversaries in training, also owns several F-16s at Luke. But the departure this week marks the end of an era for the base.

Luke has trained fighter pilots since it began in 1941, starting with propeller planes such as the P-40, P-38, and P-51, then on to jets including the F-84, F-100, F-4, and F-15 before training its first F-16 pilots in 1983. By 2005, the Luke-based 56th Fighter Wing was the world’s largest fighter unit, with eight squadrons flying 189 F-16s. 

Luke, in the words of author Peter Aleshire in his 2004 book Eye of the Viper: The Making of an F-16 Pilot, was where “drooly, diapered, dumbass, would-be fighter pilots get stripped down, disassembled, spun, bounced, and stress-tested—before being reassembled into Viper pilots—slit-eyed, ice-cold killers.”

luke f-16
Air Force Lt. Col. Michael Ress, 309th Fighter Squadron commander, fastens his oxygen mask to his helmet in the cabin of a U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon for the final F-16 flight of the 309th FS, Feb. 26, 2025, at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Katelynn Jackson)

It takes a high-performing student to pass through undergraduate pilot training and introduction to fighter fundamentals before learning to fly the F-16. But the pace and intensity of the 37-week long F-16 Basic Course (also called B-Course) pushes even the most high-achieving students.

“F-16 students begin their journey into F-16 being inundated with a crushing load of classroom academics that doesn’t abate through the duration of the 7-month course,” Air Education and Training Command wrote on its website. 

The F-16’s departure from the base started in 2014, with the arrival of the first F-35. Now there are five F-35 training squadrons at Luke, soon to be six as the 309th Fighter Squadron switches to the fifth-generation aircraft.

Lt. Col. Michael Ress, commander of the 309th, flew the squadron’s last Viper to Nellis. The final class of F-16 student pilots graduated from the squadron in September, with the last local training sortie in February.

“The F-16 has been the backbone of the Air Force for over 50 years,” Ress said in a press release. “Fourth-generation aircraft like the F-16 will continue to be the capacity, while fifth-generation aircraft like the F-35 is now the capability.”

The F-16 training mission continues at Morris Air National Guard Base, Ariz.; Holloman Air Force Base, N.M.; and Kelly Field Annex of Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas. Luke’s 425th Fighter Squadron will move to Ebbing Air National Guard Base, Ark., in the next few years. 

“While the F-16’s chapter at Luke AFB comes to a close, our mission remains unchanged,” the 56th Fighter Wing wrote in the press release. “Luke will continue to train the world’s greatest fighter pilots and combat-ready Airmen, now with the unmatched capabilities of the F-35.”

luke f-16
Airmen assigned to the 56th Fighter Wing watch as a U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon takes off for the final flight of the 309th Fighter Squadron, Feb. 26, 2025, at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Katelynn Jackson)
‘Time is Now’ to Look at New Airlifter: TRANSCOM Boss

‘Time is Now’ to Look at New Airlifter: TRANSCOM Boss

March 26, 2025 | By Unshin Lee Harpley

The head of the U.S. Transportation doesn’t want to wait to start planning on a new airlifter to replace both the C-5 and C-17 fleets, which serve as the command’s “workhorses.”

“The issue with the C-17 is, while it performs well, a lot of folks think that it’s new, and it’s not a new plane, and so we will continue to use it and stress it,” Air Force Gen. Randall Reed said at a House Armed Services Committee hearing on March 25. “And, because it takes such a long time to build the next plane, the time is now to start looking at the next one.”

The C-5, the Air Force’s biggest aircraft, can carry up to 285,000 pounds, while the C-17 can haul 170,000 pounds and is more capable of operating from smaller, austere runways ideal for contested environments. TRANSCOM relies heavily on these aircraft to move oversized cargo, personnel, and supplies worldwide, supporting everything from combat to humanitarian operations. Reed noted they “require investment” to ensure sustainability.

Both fleets face challenges; the Air Force tapped Pratt & Whitney for a $5.5 billion contract for engine sustainment and support in 2023, aiming for better fuel efficiency and longer maintenance intervals by 2027. The C-5 fleet underwent a $10 billion upgrade in 2018, including engine and avionics improvements, with the goal of driving its mission capable rate above 55 percent. However, despite initial success, the fleet’s readiness has since declined.

Air Force officials have spoken about a Next-Generation Airlift platform, or NGAL, but it is not an official program in the service budget and work on it remains preliminary at this point.

Gen. John D. Lamontagne, Air Mobility Command chief, recently speculated that a potential NGAL platform must be stealthy and capable of performing more missions than just transporting people and cargo. AMC is currently conducting a capabilities-based assessment focused on cargo capacity, range, survivability, and connectivity.

“We want to figure out what those next requirements look like before we fly the wings off the C-17,” Lamontagne said at AFA Warfare Symposium earlier this month. “There’s a healthy amount of life left in the C-17, but we want to stay in front of that.”

Tankers

Reed also highlighted the need to recapitalize the Air Force tanker fleet—a concern he raised with senators at a hearing earlier this month.

“The concerns that I have is that we continue to [re-capitalize] that fleet without a break,” said Reed. “The KC-135s that we have are aging, and as they continue to age, it’s harder to find the parts. Once we actually find the parts, and we begin to fix the airplanes, it takes longer, so the faster that we can continue to replace those planes is key.”

Air Force Gen. Randall Reed, U.S. Transportation Command Chief, testifies at a House Armed Services Committee hearing on March. 25. Screenshot.

The Air Force plans to buy 183 KC-46 Pegasus aircraft to replace about half of the current KC-135 fleet. But the average age of the remaining Stratotankers will be 67 by the time the Air Force accepts the last KC-46. Lamontagne has suggested a service life extension program may be necessary.

The KC-46, meanwhile, “does have some challenges,” Reed said—an acknowledgement of its glaring deficiencies that have slowed progress and performance.

Deliveries of the KC-46 are suspended while Boeing investigates cracks in the outboard wing trailing edge. So far, 11 of 50 inspected KC-46s have shown cracks, with 39 more to be inspected in the next two weeks. Repairs are expected to proceed swiftly once the cause is determined.

However the timeline for resuming deliveries remains unclear, as most of the other, more chronic deficiencies with the KC-46 are still being worked on, according to Lamontagne.

Air Force Sets Locations, Seeks Volunteers for First ‘Deployable Combat Wings’

Air Force Sets Locations, Seeks Volunteers for First ‘Deployable Combat Wings’

March 25, 2025 | By Greg Hadley

Editor’s Note: This story was updated March 26 with additional details.

As the Air Force begins setting up its first five Deployable Combat Wings, it is seeking volunteers to join these foundational units, Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin announced in an email to Active-Duty Airmen on March 25. 

Allvin said assignment opportunities for certain career fields within the five new wings are posted to the Air Force’s internal “talent marketplace,” and that officers have until April 2 to apply. Enlisted members will be able to volunteer from April 4 to May 14. 

An Air Force spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine that the service is looking for around 700 volunteers across the five locations, with different totals depending on the base. If there are not enough volunteers, Airmen will need to be nonvoluntarily assigned to the units.

The five wings, which will begin a workup cycle and deploy about 18 months after forming, are set to be located at: 

  • Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark. 
  • Moody Air Force Base, Ga. 
  • Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho 
  • Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C. 
  • Shaw Air Force Base, S.C. 

Those locations still have to go through the Air Force’s strategic basing process.

Most of those bases host fighter units, though Little Rock is primarily an airlift hub. Seymour Johnson is the only one that currently hosts an Air Task Force, the most recent precursor to Deployable Combat Wings. 

Allvin and Air Force leaders plan to have 24 Deployable Combat Wings across the force, including Active, Guard, and Reserve units, which will all train and deploy together from their home installation—a radical change from the service’s current piecemeal approach to deployments. 

DCWs were introduced conceptually a year ago as part of the Department of the Air Force’s “Re-Optimization for Great Power Competition” initiative, but planning was far enough along that the change was not subject to the pause imposed last month by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who wanted those initiatives to be reviewed by the administration’s new Secretary of the Air Force.

Allvin said the first five “unit type codes” for Deployable Combat Wings were approved before the pause was put in place. UTCs are codes that define the capabilities of Air Force units. 

By volunteering, Airmen will be funded to move to their new bases, Allvin wrote. Volunteers and those assigned to the units will go through the full force generation cycle together—participating in training, exercises, and deployments as one unit. 

“This is your chance to shape the future of airpower and warfighting,” Allvin wrote. “We need Airmen who are ready to embrace this challenge, strengthen our warrior ethos, and build the next generation of Air Force deployments.” 

The journey to creating DCWs has been a long one. Since the Global War on Terror era began, Airmen have deployed as individuals or in small groups to large central bases in the Middle East, where most met their team and learned to work together on the fly. In recent years, the service has introduced interim solutions, first Expeditionary Air Bases, and more recently Air Task Forces—units that pull Airmen from fewer bases and units, and that work to train at least sometimes together before deployments begin. 

Deployable Combat Wings are the final step in that transformation. 

The last of six Air Task Forces stood up in October 2024, and one deployed for an exercise in Korea this month. By the time the six ATFs finish their force generation cycle in the fall of 2026—the start of fiscal 2027—leaders want to have the first Deployable Combat Wings ready to deploy.

Second Batch of Air Force Warrant Officers Graduate in Alabama

Second Batch of Air Force Warrant Officers Graduate in Alabama

March 25, 2025 | By David Roza

The Air Force doubled its number of warrant officers when a second cohort graduated Warrant Officer Training School on March 13 at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala.

The 30 new graduates complement the first 30 who graduated on Dec. 6, which marked the Air Force’s first new warrant officers in 66 years. The service decided to bring back the ranks in early 2024 in a bid to retain technical talent in two fast-moving career fields: cybersecurity and information technology.

The Air Force’s career paths for enlisted and commissioned Airmen are geared to put them in leadership roles, but the warrant officer role allows Airmen to stay hands-on throughout their careers. That kind of long-running expertise will be crucial in a future conflict, the head of Air Education and Training Command, Lt. Gen. Brian Robinson, said at the March 13 graduation.

“We are at the tip of the spear largely because the cyber, information, and air domains largely make up the difference in time it takes to cover the geography with our competitors,” Robinson said, according to a press release. “If you miss a critical factor in a string of code, that is the difference in success or failure of the mission. You’re going to bring that attention to detail to the table.”

Candidates arrive for day one of Warrant Officer Training School at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, Jan. 14, 2025. (U.S. Air Force photo by Damien Thomas)

All of the candidates brought technical chops to Alabama with them: they are all noncommissioned officers and senior noncommissioned officers and had to beat out 412 other applicants for their spots. Over the course of eight weeks, the selectees learned to serve as critical links between warfighters and their leaders on technical issues. 

“When the dust settles, the commander looks back at that warrant officer and is like ‘OK so what do you think?’” a member of the first cohort, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Tajh Smith, told Air & Space Forces Magazine in December. “Or the warrant officer will bring everybody back to a level playing field and put things in perspective.”  

“We receive candidates who already possess the technical credibility,” said WOTS Commandant Maj. Nathan Roesler in the release. “Our goal is to ensure the men and women that leave here are ready to weaponize that credibility paired with leadership, communication, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills that will enhance their ability to be effective in the agile environment we are in today.”

Among the 30 new warrant officers who graduated on March 13, 23 were Active-duty, six in the Air National Guard, and one in the Air Force Reserves.

A third cohort of 18 warrant officer candidates started the course March 21. Class 25-03 completes the initial 78 selectees accepted last August, up from 60 selectees as originally planned. The Air Force increased the pool after seeing the high quality of the applicants.

About 60 more warrant officers are expected to graduate through the rest of fiscal year 2025 and into the start of fiscal year 2026. Due to the nature of board scheduling last year, two classes graduating in June and later this fall will each feature 30 Air National Guardsmen.

The total number of graduates at that point will be about 120 warrant officers, Roesler told Air & Space Forces Magazine. The school is scheduled to graduate about 150 more split over four or five classes in fiscal 2026. The selection boards for those classes opened March 3, with selections to be made this summer.

About half of that 150 will be Active-Duty, while the other half will be predominately Air National Guard, with a few Air Force Reservists mixed in too, but the individual classes will likely be more of a total force mix, Roesler said. Cyber and IT will still be the only two career fields.

“We’ve been really impressed by the quality of candidate that we’ve received so far,” the major said. “I’m really proud of the training school and we continue to improve with every class. I think the Air Force is going to be pleased with the assets that they’re gaining in these new warrant officers.”

NATO to Focus on ‘Realistic Combat Scenarios’ in Ramstein Flag 2025

NATO to Focus on ‘Realistic Combat Scenarios’ in Ramstein Flag 2025

March 24, 2025 | By Chris Gordon

NATO will start a major exercise at the end of the month to practice the ability of allied air forces to operate in a contested environment, alliance officials said March 24.

The Netherlands will host the exercise, Ramstein Flag 2025. Over 90 aircraft will operate from 12 allied bases, with the Dutch Leeuwarden Air Base acting as the hub under the direction of NATO and its Allied Air Command.

“Participation from over 15 NATO allied countries allows us to conduct a number of high-end missions within realistic combat scenarios,” U.K. Royal Air Force Air Marshal Johnny Stringer, the deputy commander of NATO Allied Air Command, told reporters. “Our priorities for the exercise this year include exercising what we call counter-anti access/area denial missions, integrated air and missile defense, and also practicing agile combat employment—all underpinned by rapid and seamless sharing of information across nations and across those operating bases.”

A major purpose of the exercise, which will take place from March 31 to April 11, will be to practice interoperability during the sprawling exercise in which NATO fighters and support planes will operate with special forces and naval units. 

“From a NATO perspective, it fits into a sequence of analysis, lessons, and then applying that in a sense of tactical development that benefits all of the nations in NATO and it marks a bit of a step change from where we were only a few years ago,” Stringer said.

In keeping with NATO’s efforts to contend with a potential Russian adversary equipped with long-range missiles and electronic warfare capabilities, one focus of the exercise will be on distributed operations.

“We train to the counter-A2AD mission set and integrated air and missile defense. The focus of the exercise is on being interoperable with all the participants flying different aircraft, but being able to fight as one force,” said Lt. Gen. André Steur, commander of the Royal Netherlands Air Force. “We’ll be operating from different bases where we have the flexibility with the air armada to operate from different airfields with different platforms, but once airborne, we are one fighting team.”

Stringer said the disparate locations would “deliberately stress” the participants.

“We sometimes underestimate that value of actually knowing the folks you’re going to possibly go to war with,” Steur added.

The exercise comes as the U.S. has voiced skepticism about NATO under President Donald Trump, with questions about the future U.S. role. As of yet, that has not seemed to impact military exercises, as U.S. Air Forces in Europe just wrapped up a Bomber Task Force deployment of B-52 Stratofortress that included more than a dozen practice missions with NATO allies. Stringer said the U.S. Air Force planned to participate with a “high-end suite of air capability.”

“All relationships, all alliances probably have their ups and downs. But what you’re seeing in Ramstein Flag is some of the highest-end training we’re able to conduct in Europe across a raft of nations, supported by all 32 nations in the alliance, to generate the essential skills that we’ll need—all of us will need—to keep Europe safe. And that ability to integrate, to be interoperable across nations, is essential to it. And that is underpinning the exercise,” Stringer said.

NATO’s first ever Ramstein Flag took place last October in Greece, with more than 130 aircraft from 12 countries. The concept borrows from the U.S. Air Force’s Red Flag exercises, which aim to “train as you fight,” using large-scale, realistic environments and adversaries to help hone Airmen’s aerial combat skills.