The Air Force only saw five hypoxia-like events in its T-6A trainer fleet in the first three months of 2020—a 50-percent drop from the same period the year before, according to data obtained by Air Force Magazine. But despite progress reflected by the data, Brig. ...
Boeing received a $1.2 billion sole-source Air Force contract July 13 to begin buying the first eight F-15EX fighters, meant to replace the F-15C/D Eagle fleet, which is rapidly aging out, the Pentagon announced. The contract could ultimately be worth nearly $23 billion and involve ...
Air Force command and control aircraft now have a combat evaluation program, with the kickoff of the first-ever Combat Sentry on July 13 at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla. Combat Sentry, similar to the live-fire Combat Hammer and Combat Archer evaluations, puts two E-3 Sentry ...
U.S. Southern Command has seized more than 122 tons of cocaine since April as America uses more surveillance aircraft to crack down on regional counternarcotics operations, Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper said July 10. The federal government has deployed 75 percent more intelligence-collection and target-tracking ...
The Air Force's first batch of engines for the F-15EX will number 19 powerplants; 16 installs and three spares, Air Force Materiel Command said. The number of engines was withheld when the engine contract to General Electric was announced last month. The three spares constitute ...
House appropriators are planning to offer the Pentagon $694.6 billion for operations, personnel, and procurement, plus another $10.5 billion for military construction, in fiscal 2021. The Defense Department funding proposal is $1.3 billion higher than DOD received in fiscal 2020, but nearly $4 billion lower ...
Bigger fleets of aircraft are easier and less costly per aircraft to manage than small ones, but that may change as the Air Force moves toward the new Digital Century Series, Air Force Materiel Command chief Gen. Arnold W. Bunch Jr. said July 1. The ...
Congress wants to pump the brakes on U.S. Special Operations Command’s effort to buy a new plane for armed overwatch in remote areas, after many lawmakers recently supported a similar Air Force program. Lawmakers call on Pentagon leadership to describe why SOCOM would need such ...
The first operationally ready Negatively Pressurized Conex arrived in Ramstein Air Force Base, Germany, on June 24. The adapted shipping container can fit onto C-17 and C-5M aircraft, and can safely transport up to 23 COVID-19 patients without risking contamination of the aircrew or aircraft, ...
The unprecedented pace of bomber task force deployments to Europe recently has allowed USAF's strategic forces to train with allies they haven’t flown alongside before in areas generally unfamiliar to the bombers, the head of U.S. Air Forces in Europe said. The task force flights, ...
Nuclear modernization concerns are again on the table for fiscal 2021 defense policy negotiations, as House lawmakers raise issues about staffing, program delays, and how to use the weapons themselves. The Air Force’s three major nuclear weapon upgrade programs—the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent, the Long-Range Standoff ...
A problem with an inert gas system meant to protect F-35 fighters if they're struck by lightning has led to a safety order to avoid thunderstorms. Lockheed Martin advised the Air Force to route F-35s around potential lightning conditions until the issue is resolved, the ...