The Air Force trimmed 120 airplanes from its fleet in fiscal 2021, gaining the most aircraft among its F-35 fighter squadrons and giving up the most from its B-1 bomber units, according to data provided by the Air Force. With puts and takes, the Air Force’s kinetic shooter fleet, not…
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No COVID-19 Vaccine, No PCS Moves, Air Force Says
Nov. 24, 2021
With several thousand Airmen still unvaccinated against COVID-19, the Air Force is reportedly introducing a new consequence for those without a medical or administrative exemption. Starting Nov. 29, unvaccinated Airmen will be blocked from moving to new assignments unless they are on existing PCS orders or have been selected for…
Gen. Laura J. Richardson made history as the first woman to lead U.S. Southern Command and the third ever to lead a U.S. combatant command. Seeing a woman in such a senior leadership role is already having a powerful impact on female officers and enlisted personnel in regional militarties. "Everywhere…
The Defense Department is establishing a new office to coordinate its approach to unidentified aerial phenomena, signaling the Pentagon’s increasing interest as the issue becomes less and less of a fringe concern. The Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group will be organized under the office of Undersecretary of Defense…
Air Mobility Command’s KC-46 next-generation refueler has been operating from five bases nationwide and for nearly two years, but lessons learned and problems encountered were not unified until a Nov. 17-18 Weapons Systems Council at McConnell Air Force Base, Kan. “The KC-46, being a new platform, it did not have…
An $88 million deal with the University of Dayton will hopefully “add a unique fresh look” at maturing artificial intelligence for Air Force autonomy applications. The agreement between the Air Force Research Laboratory and the university—a program called Soaring Otter—expands on what Kelly Miller of the AFRL Sensors Directorate characterized…
Purchases of new F-35 fighters, KC-46 tankers, and C-130 transports in recent years have made only a small dent in the age of the Air Force’s fleet, down to 29.1 years across all types after hitting 30.55 years in 2020. But the service operates eight fleets exceeding an average of…
The Space Force’s “go fast acquisition” of three new missile warning satellites passed a system-level critical design review Oct. 28 that judged how the satellites and associated ground systems will work together and how the new equipment will work with existing missile warning systems. The satellites are designed with “improved…
So-called “hackers” from three commands competed in a hackathon Nov. 1-5 to help the Air Force Test Pilot School figure out how to manage stores of data in an expansion of digital engineering. Now the Air Force Test Center plans to stage quarterly hackathons with the next goal “to not only…