As if the airlift numbers weren’t sobering enough, USAF says that the typical ANG F-16 squadron today has 15 fighters. The optimum number is 24, or, in the case of experienced ANG forces, 18 per squadron. Eighteen would ensure there are sufficient fighters to perform a given mission. Unless ANG redistributes airframes among fewer units, normal aircraft attrition will take the number of F-16s per ANG squadron in 2017 down to 6.3. Again, says the Air Force, very inefficient.
The first flight of the secretive B-21 bomber has slipped to mid-2022, but the program is moving along well, Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office director Randall Walden said in an exclusive interview. The second copy of the B-21, which will be used for structural testing, is now on the production…