John Stillion

President Donald Trump signed the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act on Dec. 18, a day after Congress passed the annual defense policy bill for the 65th consecutive year. Here’s what it means for the Air Force and Space Force.

The top of the Air Force's acquisition enterprise is in the midst of a major overhaul, with the Senate having confirmed a new four-star general to oversee acquisition from the Pentagon and Air Force Materiel Command getting downgraded from a four- to three-star command.

The Air Force is now expecting delivery of the first VC-25B presidential transport by mid-2028, months ahead of its last official projection, a service spokesperson said this week. USAF also announced it is buying two used Boeing 747-8 jetliners for training and spare parts to be delivered in 2026, calling the $400 million deal part of its “acceleration efforts” for the oft-delayed presidential ...

Congress set the legal floor for how many primary mission aircraft the Air Force had to have in its fighter force in 2018, requiring at least 1,145 fighters through Oct. 1, 2026. In each of the past past two legislative cycles, lawmakers agreed to reduce the number. ...

More than a quarter-century after handing over the mission to the Navy, the Air Force is taking the first steps towards taking back over a critical nuclear command, control, and communications function. 

Congress is getting closer to saving the E-7 Wedgetail from the Pentagon chopping block, with the House of Representatives preparing to pass the presumptive final version of the National Defense Authorization bill this week.

Lawmakers resolving differences in the House and Senate versions of the National Defense Authorization bill want to stop cuts to the Air Force’s combat fleet by blocking scores of planned divestments of aging A-10 and F-15E fighters.

Navy Adm. Richard Correll succeeded Air Force Gen. Anthony J. Cotton as head of U.S. Strategic Command on Dec. 5, stressing the need for the combatant command to understand and embrace new technologies for its deterrence mission.

Air Education & Training Command received its first T-7A Red Hawk when the long-awaited next-generation jet trainer landed at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph on Dec. 5.

An Air Force F-16 Thunderbird crashed Dec. 3 near Death Valley, Calif., with the pilot ejecting safely. In a statement, the Thunderbirds—officially the U.S. Air Force Air Demonstration Squadron—said the incident occurred at approximately 10:45 a.m. local time “during a training mission over controlled airspace ...

The U.S. Air Force’s KC-46 Pegasus fleet hit a major milestone Dec. 2 with the delivery of its 99th and 100th aircraft at Travis Air Force Base, Calif.

The Air Force’s airlift fleet is in desperate need of modern connectivity, spare parts, and other innovations to keep going amid growing demand and modernization plans still in their infancy, according to a former senior leader and a new research paper from AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. 

Less than two years after previous Air Force leaders announced a sweeping slate of changes, the new top brass is discarding more than half of them.

The Pentagon awarded RTX’s Pratt & Whitney a $1.6 billion contract for sustainment work on the F-35's engine on Nov. 28. The deal includes everything from software maintenance to spare parts for the F135 engine and runs through November 2026, spanning a dozen locations around the globe.

The sinking of 21 boats and killing of dozens of accused “narco-terrorists” by the Trump administration over the past two months has sparked an intense debate among legal experts and lawmakers.