Japanese Air Self Defense Force officials say they have sent fighters aloft 30 times in the last seven months against encroaching Chinese aircraft. The rate is more than twice the scrambles in the same period last year. According to the Associated Press, Japan has tracked the scrambles against specific countries since 1995, and the record against Chinese aircraft was 30 during all of 1998.
The Air Force’s nascent KC-Z program, aimed at developing a next-generation family of systems for aerial refueling, will look to launch its analysis-of-alternatives study in 2024, years earlier than originally planned. Originally, the analysis of alternatives for KC-Z was set for “maybe in the 2030s,” Paul Waugh, program executive officer…