The Air Force’s newest rendering of the secret B-21 bomber suggests an exotic layout of cockpit windows. The image, the third released so far, offers a new oblique view of the aircraft from below its port side, suggesting a deeper keel and wider weapons bay ...
President Joe Biden will nominate Lt. Gen. Anthony J. Cotton to take over as the next commander of Air Force Global Strike Command. If confirmed, Cotton, currently AFGSC’s deputy commander, would replace retiring Gen. Timothy M. Ray, who has led the command since 2018. Cotton, ...
The two-war force-sizing construct should be restored in the next National Defense Strategy being developed by the Biden administration, according to a new paper from the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. The authors argued that a one-war capacity invites adversaries to take advantage of U.S. ...
The Air Force will hold 45 B-1 bombers in service until a sufficient number of B-21 bombers are on hand to replace them, service leaders told a House Armed Services readiness hearing. They also reveled that the first two B-21s are complete and ready for ...
A year after submitting its smallest military construction budget in a half-decade, the Department of the Air Force submitted a 2022 budget request that marked a return to years past—and a substantial increase overall. The 2022 figure of roughly $2.8 billion marks a 75 percent ...
The success of the B-21 program so far is due to its modular approach and incremental changes to its technology, not its requirements, Air Force Global Strike Command head Gen. Timothy M. Ray said. “We’ve codified the approach … of open mission systems [and] modularity ...
The Department of the Air Force is asking for $212.8 billion in fiscal 2022, of which the Air Force gets $156.3 billion, the Space Force $17.4 billion, with the rest referred to as "pass-through" funding not controlled by the department. The budget request focuses on ...
China's meteoric rise in military capability—and the urge to do something to contain it—is the chief reason Frank Kendall, the Biden administration's pick to be Air Force Secretary, agreed to return to Pentagon work, he said in his Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing. Kendall ...
Brig. Gen. William H. Kale III told House appropriators May 19 to expect a “significant” improvement in military construction funding in the department’s fiscal 2022 budget request, saying key focus areas include the fielding of new nuclear capabilities and bolstering facilities in the European and ...
The Air Force should pause its major recapitalization of its intercontinental ballistic missile fleet—a move top military officials strongly oppose—as budgets tighten and other nuclear modernization efforts proceed, a key lawmaker said May 17. Rep. John Garamendi (D-California), the chairman of the House Armed Services ...
Sharply rising support costs among aging fleets are devouring money the Air Force needs to spend on new technology and new hardware, service Vice Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. David S. Nahom said. The Air Force has to figure out how to divest old hardware ...
As the first flight of the B-21 Raider bomber draws closer, Gen. Timothy M. Ray, head of Air Force Global Strike Command, toured Northrop Grumman’s production facility and the test enterprise that will put the jet through its paces beginning next year.