The U.S. Air Force is now using F-16s to bolster its armed overwatch of oil tankers in the Persian Gulf region and deter Iran from trying to seize the vessels, U.S. officials say, joining A-10s that have already been flying patrols in the Gulf for ...
Without a large corrective investment, the Air Force’s aged fighter force will “collapse” soon due to its small size, lack of training in high-end warfare, low availability, and chronic shortage of pilots and maintainers, according to a new report from the Air & Space Forces ...
The Air Force has begun to retire its A-10 Thunderbolt IIs. An A-10 from the 74th Fighter Squadron at Moody Air Force Base, Ga, arrived at the Boneyard on April 5, the service said. The aircraft is the first of 21 A-10s that will be ...
As the Air Force’s broader focus shifts to the Pacific and Europe, the U.S. military will rely on aging close air support aircraft to meet the needs of its forces in the Middle East. A-10 Thunderbolt IIs will deploy to the region in April, a ...
The Air Force's “4+1” fighter plan is rapidly becoming the “4” plan as the service retires A-10s faster than it expected to, Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown, Jr. said March 15. The retirements are needed to pay for new systems to keep USAF ...
While Boeing and the Air Force inch forward with their plans for the Remote Vision System 2.0 aboard the KC-46, the two organizations are also working on fixes for the troubled tanker’s other deficiencies—deficiencies that continue to limit the aircraft. The most prominent of these other ...
The military services are leaving capability gaps as they divest of older aircraft but aren't coordinating their tactical aviation spending plans to minimize risk, the Government Accountability Office said in a new report. While the Pentagon agrees that it needs a portfolio approach to fighter ...
A KC-46A Pegasus flew a 36-hour nonstop mission that covered more than 16,000 miles. Crews traveled from Pease Air National Guard Base, N.H., over North America, Hawaii, and Guam, before retracing their path and landing back at their home base. The flight was the longest ...
As part of Air & Space Forces Magazine’s commemoration of the Air Force’s 75th anniversary, we interviewed all of the living former Chiefs of Staff. In this part of the series, we feature CSAF No. 20 Gen. Mark A. Welsh.
The U.S. is "clearly committed" to its plans to significantly improve its missile defense of Guam, a senior defense official said, expanding on a key theme of the recently released Missile Defense Review. The U.S. territory in the Western Pacific is a major U.S. military ...
The U.S. has lost "conventional overmatch," and needs a sustained investment in combat air forces to restore it, Air Combat Command chief Gen. Mark Kelly said at ASC 2022. The investment is needed not just to have a quality Air Force but to ensure the ...
U.S. Indo-Pacific Command has two new squadrons of F-35s at its disposal in Alaska just as “quite a bit of action” has taken place in the combatant command’s area of responsibility and the “advanced threats” there are becoming “more lethal,” said the squadrons’ wing commander, ...