The Air Force’s fledgling Rapid Sustainment Office plans to triple the number of aircraft using predictive maintenance algorithms in 2020, the service told Air Force Magazine. The Conditions-Based Maintenance Plus (CBM+) program, which started last year, and related initiatives use sensors and algorithms to collect ...
B-1Bs from Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., integrated with Swedish Gripens for the first time during a long-distance bomber task force sortie to Europe that included fighter jets from multiple allied countries. The two B-1s, supported by a U.S. Air Force KC-135 from RAF Mildenhall, ...
U.S. Air Forces in Europe will test its Agile Combat Employment concept of operations later this month, moving F-16s forward to another USAFE base where maintainers who typically work with mobility aircraft will apply their skills to fighter support. USAFE commander Gen. Jeffrey Harrigian told ...
The New Jersey Air National Guard’s 177th Fighter Wing has a “no fail” mission and must keep F-16s on alert to respond to threats to the country’s northeast, even though the local community has been hit hard by the new coronavirus. COVID-19 has created a ...
The Air Force inspector general is conducting a sweeping review of the service’s readiness assessments and reporting, the year after a Pentagon-wide order directed the armed forces to improve the state of key fighter fleets, according to the service’s presumptive next Chief of Staff. Air ...
The Air Force Reserve’s 514th Flight Test Squadron has created a “taxi service” aimed at delivering aircraft to and from the Ogden Air Logistics Complex, Utah, without exposing aircrews to the new coronavirus. When an aircraft is maintained or modified at Ogden, a pilot from ...
A long-standing problem with F-16 landing gear caused the December 2019 crash of a Viper upon landing at Kunsan Air Base, South Korea. The documented problems with actuators and brackets on the main landing gear of F-16 Block 32 and Block 40 aircraft prompted an ...
The improper installation of two parts caused an F-16's hydraulic system to fail, making the pilot lose control and crash into a warehouse in May 2019 while flying back to March Air Reserve Base, Calif., Air Force investigators found. The F-16 pilot successfully ejected before ...
The Air Force is extending its feasibility study into the use of privately owned aerial refueling tankers after an initial report determined further research is needed to understand legal and financial challenges. Last week, the Air Force delivered a Commercial Air Refueling Report to the ...
The Air Force’s Thunderbirds will kick off a nationwide tour honoring first responders and essential workers amid the COVID-19 pandemic on April 28 in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, flying alongside the Navy’s Blue Angels. The “America Strong” tour will start around noon in ...
Airmen and F-16s from the “Triple Nickel” returned to Aviano Air Base, Italy, from a six-month combat deployment to the Middle East—the first time a full unit returned from a deployment since the Defense Department ordered a restriction on movement because of COVID-19. The Airmen ...
A B-1B Lancer flew a 30-hour flight to train alongside USAF and Japanese fighters on April 22, the first bomber sortie in the Pacific since the Air Force ended the continuous bomber presence mission on April 17. The B-1, from Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., ...