Even with a 3 percent to 5 percent increase in the defense budget, losing a conflict with China still becomes a “distinct possibility" without both aircraft cuts and a fundamental change in how the Air Force structures itself for war, Chief of Staff Gen. Charles ...
Multilateralism and norms of behavior in space should be priorities in any future arms control negotiations, senior military leaders told Congress on June 15. The response to questions from Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.) came the day before U.S. President Joe Biden is set to meet ...
The Air Force wants another dozen F-15EXs as part of its $4.2 billion unfunded priorities list it submitted to Congress this week, but the service is not asking for any additional F-35A strike fighters. The Space Force sent a separate request to the Hill, but ...
The Air Force did not request to buy any new MH-139A Grey Wolf helicopters in its fiscal 2022 budget, and fielding will be delayed as the service waits to receive Federal Aviation Administration certification. The Air Force bought eight of the new helicopters in 2021, ...
The Air Force is again targeting its old tankers for retirement, so it can make room for new KC-46s to come online. The service's 2022 budget request looks to cut 18 KC-135s and 14 KC-10s, as it buys 14 more KC-46s. Maj. Gen. James D. ...
The Air Force is asking to retire 201 airplanes and buy 91 new ones in its fiscal 2022 budget request, representing a net decrease of 110 airplanes. The fighter fleet would drop by 77 aircraft, and the RQ-4 Global Hawk fleet would be cut by ...
The defense budget coming out May 28 will contain few big surprises. Plans to retire some older planes have already been reported, and the longer-range plans typically surfacing at budget time—known as the Future Years Defense Plan, or FYDP—are still being debated. But inklings of ...
To ensure it can compete—and win—against peer adversaries such as China and Russia in the future, the Air Force must divest its aging equipment and instead invest in more capable and advanced aircraft, said Lt. Gen. S. Clinton Hinote, deputy chief of staff for strategy, ...
Top Department of the Air Force leaders told lawmakers May 7 they need to divest aging aircraft to make room for more advanced systems, setting up a now familiar budget fight on Capitol Hill. “America cannot wait to modernize the Air Force any longer, not ...
As the Air Force pieces together its fiscal 2023 budget, due early next year, it must think not only about the immediate future, but also five years down the road. That’s a challenge right now, said Lt. Gen. S. Clinton Hinote, the Air Force’s deputy ...
Draft versions of the 2021 defense policy bill in both the House and Senate will keep enough legacy tankers in the Air Force to “bridge” the fleet to the point where the KC-46 will become fully operational without extensive stress on the military’s refueling backbone, ...
Gen. David L. Goldfein ends his tenure as USAF's 21st Chief of Staff today, handing uniformed leadership of the service to Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. In "The Goldfein Years," appearing in our July/August issue, Editorial Director John A. Tirpak talks to the outgoing chief ...