16th Air Force achieved full operational capability July 13, less than a year after the former 24th and 26th Air Forces were combined into a single number air force headquartered in San Antonio. It combines intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, cyber, electronic warfare, and information operations. ...
Gen. Kenneth S. Wilsbach received his fourth star and took over command of Pacific Air Forces during a July 8 ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii. Wilsbach took the guidon from Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., who will take over as the next Air ...
Three F-35A Lightning IIs arrived at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, on June 25, doubling the size of the base’s F-35A fleet. Eielson will receive 48 more aircraft by December next year, giving Alaska the highest concentration of combat-coded, fifth-generation fighter aircraft of any state. ...
As Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. prepares to take the helm as the service’s top officer in early August, he already is thinking about how to best position the Air Force for a potential conflict with China. Brown, who has led Pacific Air Forces since ...
The Air Force sent groups of B-52s to the Pacific and Europe as bomber task force deployments within two days this week, prompting Russia to intercept one. On June 15, two B-52Hs from the 5th Bomb Wing at Minot Air Force Base, N.D., flew a ...
Lt. Gen. Scott Pleus took command of 7th Air Force on June 12 in a first for the numbered Air Force: a virtual passing of the leadership baton due to the coronavirus pandemic. As commander of 7th Air Force, Pleus will serve as the deputy ...
Fighter jets won support among senators in new defense policy legislation that also raised questions about some of the Air Force’s top priorities. The Senate Armed Services Committee approved a $740.5 billion version of the fiscal 2021 defense policy bill 25-2 on June 10. Its ...
Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., the Air Force's presumptive next Chief of Staff, talked about what's on his mind as Congress considers his historic nomination to be the first black leader of any military service while racial tensions flare across the country following the Memorial ...
A contingent of RQ-4 Global Hawks are now flying out of Yokota Air Base, Japan, after making their regular trip from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, to avoid bad weather. The RQ-4s often move to Japan to stay safe from Andersen's typhoon season. A Pacific ...
Top Air Force leaders will discuss an overhaul of the Air and Space Expeditionary Force model at this week's Corona meeting, the first to be held all virtually. The new AEF model, which may still get some revision before it is rolled out, will seek ...
A readiness task force spanning several major Air Force organizations is looking at new ways to measure fleet readiness other than the controversial mission-capable rate. After trying and largely failing to get certain fighter jet fleets to reach 80 percent mission-capable, or ready to enter ...
The Air Force wants to add more Airmen for space, sensing, command and control, and logistics, if upcoming military budgets let the service grow, Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Stephen “Seve” Wilson said May 20. Wilson also said plans for a larger bomber force will ...