F-16s and F-15s from the Air Force’s 31st and 48th Fighter Wings linked up in northwestern Wales in mid-July, conducting a rare air-to-air live fire training exercise in the U.S. Air Forces in Europe-Air Forces Africa (USAFE) area of responsibility. For the 31st Fighter Wing, ...
An F-15 pilot with the 48th Fighter Wing at RAF Lakenheath, United Kingdom, got to meet the civilian plane spotter who potentially saved his life. In a Facebook post from RAF Lakenheath, 492nd Fighter Squadron pilot Maj. Grant Thompson was seen personally thanking Ian Simpson, ...
F-15s from the 493rd Fighter Squadron at RAF Lakenheath, England, have deployed to Iceland to take up the NATO Air Policing mission there for the second time in less than a year. The three F-15C/Ds, plus an F-15E from the 493rd’s sister unit, the 494th ...
The F-35A fleet is now the second largest in the Air Force’s inventory, behind the F-16 but surpassing F-15s and A-10s. There are now 283 Joint Strike Fighters in the Air Force’s arsenal, compared to 281 A-10s, 234 F-15C/Ds, and 218 F-15Es. Air Force Chief ...
USAF F-15s, F-16s, and C-130s are training in Poland in an agile combat employment exercise that comes as Russia has executed a massive buildup on the border with neighboring Ukraine, though U.S. officials say the exercise was long-planned. F-15Es from the 492nd Fighter Squadron at ...
Three squadrons of F-35As will come to Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., the Air Force formally announced March 29, after years of groundwork. The aircraft will begin to arrive in September 2023, with the base eventually housing three squadrons of 24 aircraft each once the ...
U.S. Air Forces in Europe last week wrapped its Advanced Battle Management System demonstration, bringing together dozens of aircraft from U.S. military services and multiple countries to find new ways to share data and operate together. The USAFE “on ramp” demonstration was the first to ...
The Air Force’s first overseas F-35A unit has a nickname: the Valkyries. The 48th Fighter Wing at RAF Lakenheath, U.K., announced Feb. 16 that Valkyries is the winning nickname for the 495th Fighter Squadron, picked from about 700 different suggestions submitted by the public in ...
Single Airmen and Guardians on their first duty assignments to 22 locations in the Pacific and Europe will now have to pack their bags for a longer stay—beginning next month, those tours will last three years instead of two. The Department of the Air Force ...
The Air Force Weapons School has recognized Capt. Woodruff “Thunder” Johnson, an F-15E Weapons Officer assigned to the 494th Fighter Squadron at RAF Lakenheath, U.K., with its 2020 Robbie Risner Award. The annual award—whose namesake, Brig. Gen. James Robinson “Robbie” Risner, was the first living ...
Every year, Congress and the military debate which combat assets should head to the boneyard and which have more life left in them. Lawmakers often opt to keep Air Force systems that bring jobs to their districts, which complicates matters as the service looks to ...
An F-15C pilot’s fixation on an intercept during training, and failure to focus on the aircraft’s instruments as he encountered adverse weather, caused the fatal June 15 crash in the North Sea near the United Kingdom, U.S. Air Forces in Europe announced Nov. 23. First ...