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 ...
The Next-Generation Air Dominance system—the fighter that will succeed the F-22—will have ground attack capability possibly for its own protection, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. told lawmakers June 16. Testifying before the House Armed Services Committee on the fiscal 2022 ...
Maj. Gen. Bryan P. Radliff on June 4 took command of 10th Air Force, one of three Reserve numbered air forces. The 10th Air Force oversees Air Force Reserve Command’s strike, ISR, space, cyber, and special operations assets. Radliff previously served as the mobilization assistant ...
Despite reduced funding for the Advanced Battle Management System in the fiscal 2022 budget request, the Air Force is aiming to field increments of the system more quickly, Gen. Arnold W. Bunch Jr., head of Air Force Materiel Command, told reporters. The Air Force will ...
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 ...
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 ...
The Air Force's fighter fleet generally saw an uptick in mission capable rates in fiscal 2020. The most dramatic improvement was the F-35's. Its rate jumped from 61.6 percent in fiscal 2019 to just over 76 percent in fiscal 2020. The F-15D's and E's MC ...
The Air Force is ready to start buying some of the technology that will make up the Advanced Battle Management System, moving the program from theory to development, according to a May 21 release. First up will be new communications “pods” for the KC-46 Pegasus ...
The F-15EX achieved mixed results in its first major force wargame—Northern Edge 2021—but that was the idea, a member of the type's combined test team reported. The F-15EX showed that it can do the mission of the F-15C, and then some, but data has yet ...
The Air Force plans to begin evolving its fighter fleet to one that can win a Pacific war by retiring 421 old jets and buying 304 new ones, transitioning away from the F-22 and A-10 to an advanced, sixth-generation fighter and an F-16 replacement in ...
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 ...
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. wants to neck down the Air Force's fighter inventory from seven fleets to four, and the F-22 is not on his short list. The extant seven-fleet mix of fighters will need to be reduced to ...