At least five provincial Afghan capitals had fallen to the Taliban within three days, and U.S. airstrikes had failed to turn the tide for retreating Afghan forces, leading the Pentagon on Aug. 9 to preemptively blame a lack of political and combat “leadership” if the ...
Air Mobility Command on Aug. 6 announced it is freeing up the KC-46 for more operations, allowing the tanker to refuel C-17s, B-52s, and other KC-46s in some circumstances. The move is the second “interim capability release” for the troubled tanker. AMC last month cleared ...
The Air Force has set an ambitious goal for the B-52 Stratofortress: Update the aircraft for the modern battlefield so the legendary bomber can continue flying combat missions at least 100 years after its first flight. Central to the Air Force’s plan are new engines, ...
The Air Force needs to move quickly as it brings on the B-21 and modernizes the B-52 because operating four bombers at a time is not sustainable. This means the venerable B-1s and B-2s need to head to the boneyard ASAP, the service’s top planner ...
B-52s have returned to the Pacific for a bomber task force rotation during which they will take part in a large-scale, Australian-led exercise. The B-52s deployed from the 5th Bomb Wing at Minot Air Force Base, N.D., touching down at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, ...
The Air Force is still in the infancy of its push toward digital acquisition systems, but it won’t go back to traditional methods because the threat, the need for speed, and increasing costs demand a new way of doing business, acting Assistant Secretary for Acquisition, ...
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 ...
U.S. forces are about half way done with the planned withdrawal from Afghanistan as the U.S. and NATO pledge to continue support in new ways. U.S. Central Command boss Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr. said June 7 that with so much progress already, “we will ...
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 ...
China is progressing faster than expected in developing and fielding strategic arms, said Gen. Timothy M. Ray, head of Air Force Global Strike Command, during a June 3 virtual Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies event. He also said it will be cheaper to go forward ...
The Air Force will try again to make a free flight of its hypersonic missile the AGM-183 Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon in July, Gen. Timothy M. Ray, head of Global Strike Command, said June 3 during a virtual Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies event. He's ...