Air Force Association Almanac

Space Force Looks to Boost Cyber Defenses of Satellites with Acquisition Reorganization

May 10, 2021

The stand-up of the Space Force, and now its early overhaul and the creation of a new Space Systems Command, are all about resilience: Ensuring that space capabilities, which the whole country relies on, could survive a concerted attack by a near-peer adversary. As part of that drive, a new…

DLA Monitoring Impacts of Cyberattack on Fuel Pipelines

May 10, 2021

The Defense Logistics Agency is monitoring the military’s fuel inventory levels as a major cyberattack has halted operations of a large-scale fuel pipeline on the nation’s East Coast. Colonial Pipeline, which delivers about 45 percent of gasoline and jet fuel on the East Coast, stopped operations because of a ransomware…

One Year From First Flight, Ray Tours B-21 Factory, Bomber Test Enterprise

May 10, 2021

As the first flight of the B-21 Raider bomber draws closer, Gen. Timothy M. Ray, head of Air Force Global Strike Command, toured Northrop Grumman’s production facility and the test enterprise that will put the jet through its paces beginning next year.

Lockheed Martin Personnel Leaving Iraqi F-16 Base Because of Militia Threats

May 10, 2021

Lockheed Martin is withdrawing personnel who support Iraq’s F-16 fleet from a major operating base because of threats from militias in the region, a step that will likely limit the fleet’s operations. The move comes after contractors temporarily left the base in recent months because of the threat from Iranian-backed…

Leaders Provide Insight Into the Newly Re-Established US Space Command

May 8, 2021

Special-ops aviators, a physicist from the intelligence community, and an enlisted Marine with decades of deployments: U.S. Space Command’s military and civilian leaders who spoke May 7 were as likely to come from strictly space backgrounds as not. These are some of the day’s insights from inside the command, which…

F-35 Is Now the Air Force’s Second-Largest Fighter Fleet

May 7, 2021

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 of Staff Gen. Charles Q.…

USAF Officials Urge Congress to Allow for More Fleet Cuts, Reinvestment in New Systems

May 7, 2021

Top Department of the Air Force leaders told lawmakers May 7 they need to divest aging aircraft to make room for more advanced systems, setting up a now familiar budget fight on Capitol Hill. “America cannot wait to modernize the Air Force any longer, not one year, one month, or…

Richard Says Nuclear Deterrence Connected to All Other DOD Capabilities

May 7, 2021

If strategic deterrence fails, nothing else will work as intended, said U.S. Strategic Command boss Adm. Charles “Chas” A. Richard during a virtual Brookings Institution event on May 7. “Every operational plan in the Department of Defense, and every other capability we have in DOD, rests on the assumption that…

B-52 Demos Hypersonic Missile Kill Chain at Northern Edge Exercise

May 6, 2021

A B-52H bomber launched a simulated AGM-183 Air-launched Rapid Response hypersonic missile at a target some 600 miles away during the ongoing Northern Edge exercise in Alaska, the Air Force said. The simulated shot was a success and demonstrated Airborne Battle Management System techniques to facilitate the kill chain for…

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