Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen said Sunday the United States and its coalition partners have a no-fly zone “effectively in place” over parts of northern Libya after an initial wave of cruise missile strikes and aerial bombing attacks were...

SrA. Michael J. Hinkle II, 24, of Corona, Calif., has died due to a non-combat-related incident in Southwest Asia, the Defense Department announced. Hinkle died Wednesday. The cause of his death is under investigation. Hinkle was a cyber transport systems...

The United Nations Security Council has authorized the use of force in Libya, including a no-fly zone over the restive North African state. The measure came Thursday, just five days after the Arab League called on the Security Council to...

The F-22 Raptor could see combat for the first time if the United States helps enforce a no-fly zone over Libya, Gen. Norton Schwartz, Chief of Staff, told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee Thursday. There is “no doubt...

The Air Force is “microscopically” watching Boeing to make sure the company delivers what it promises with the KC-46A tanker contract, Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz told lawmakers Thursday. “The level of approval for engineering change orders is not...

Air Force Secretary Michael Donley told lawmakers Thursday that the service will begin looking at the first beddown of the KC-46A aerial refueling tanker “later this year,” but he cautioned that a full basing plan for all 179 tankers could...

The Air Force will face a fighter shortfall of three to five percent—up to 100 airframes—over the next five fiscal years, said senior service officials. That estimate is based on the service’s “moderate-risk fighter force structure requirement of 1,200 primary...

The Air Force expects to complete Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell training for the first two tiers of service personnel—”experts” like clergy, medics, attorneys; and “leaders”—in the next few months. So far 2,100 individuals have received the training, which is focused...

Air Force Secretary Michael Donley told lawmakers Thursday that he’s concerned with the “slight increase” in sexual assaults reported across the service in Fiscal 2010 compared to the previous year. (There were 585 reported cases last year, up from 546...

The Air Force received 585 reports of sexual assaults in Fiscal 2010, according to the Defense Department’s Fiscal 2010 report of sexual assaults in the military, released Thursday. There were 546 reported cases in Fiscal 2009. The 2010 number includes...

Building upon the demonstration success of the X-51A Waverider hypersonic research vehicle, the Air Force is exploring ideas for a weapons-suitable hypersonic missile platform. No specific program exists yet, but “there are a number of initiatives and plans in the...

A breached seal forced Air Force testers to terminate the flight of the first X-51A Waverider hypersonic demonstrator vehicle last May off the coast of California before the vehicle flew its full mission profile, according to the Air Force Research...

Mi-17 pilot Col. Mohammad Rahim Azimy became the first Afghan instructor pilot to train an Afghan Air Force student pilot, US Air Force air advisors announced. “We are now starting to rebuild this air force,” said Azimy, who operates from...

The Defense Department needs to better define its acquisition requirements, ensure full-up weapon system design is stable early in the procurement process, and limit development time to a "reasonable horizon," said Michael Sullivan, director for acquisition and sourcing at the Government Accountability Office. That approach, dubbed "incremental, knowledge-based acquisition," is necessary to combat the skyrocketing costs of new weapons programs, he told the House Armed Services Committee's tactical air and land forces panel Tuesday. He added, "There are people in the government and on [the F-35 strike fighter program] beginning to think along those lines, but there is a long way to go. I don't know if I can name more than two or three programs doing things in that way." (Sullivan's prepared remarks)