USAF Retires the F-111

July 27, 1996
On the day it is retired from service, the Air Force officially bestows the nickname Aardvark on the General Dynamics F-111 in ceremonies at the Lockheed Martin plant in Fort Worth, Texas, where the aircraft was built. The new official name formalizes what crews had been unofficially calling the aircraft for years.

Related Content

Report: Some of DOD’s GPS Alternatives Lack Complete Business Cases

Aug. 7, 2022
The Navy needs to complete the business cases for its proposed alternatives to GPS navigation so Congress can properly oversee and fund the programs, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office. The Air Force’s business case documents for its Resilient-Embedded Global Positioning System/Inertial Navigation System (R-EGI), on the…

PACAF Ponders Inter-Pacific Academy for NCOs as Partner Recruitment Lags

Aug. 5, 2022
When top Air Force leaders graced the stage at a senior noncommissioned officers' summit to urge attendees from 65 nations to collaborate with the United States, one region was noticeably underrepresented: the Indo-Pacific. Of the 39 partner nations that Pacific Air Forces identifies in the Indo-Pacific region, only eight were…

Air Force Pilot Program Centralizes Resources for Sexual Assault, Harassment Survivors

Aug. 4, 2022
The Department of the Air Force launched a new pilot program Aug. 1 that will centralize resources for survivors of sexual assault, sexual harassment, domestic abuse, and other forms of “interpersonal violence.” The Integrated Response Co-Location Pilot program is being tested at seven locations across the DAF to evaluate the…

GE, Pratt & Whitney Publicly Pitch F-35 Engine Plans as Decision Looms

Aug. 4, 2022
Meeting with reporters, industry leaders, and military officials from across the world at the Farnborough International Airshow, engine-makers Pratt & Whitney and GE Aviation laid out their competing visions for the future of F-35 propulsion. While executives from both companies agreed that the fifth-gen fighter’s engine program needs a change,…

NRO Director: Agency Will Accept Instructions From Space Command

Aug. 4, 2022
The leader of the National Reconnaissance Office said the NRO will follow orders from U.S. Space Command if needed. Meanwhile, the NRO awaits a finding by the Space Force on whether the office’s intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance activities “need to expand." In a webinar by AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace…

Ukraine Needs NASAMS to Defend Against Russian Cruise Missiles

Aug. 4, 2022
Russia’s long-range bombers fire cruise missiles against Ukrainian civilian and military infrastructure nearly unimpeded, so Ukraine needs surface-to-air missile systems that can track and destroy cruise missiles, the Ukrainian Air Force's top enlisted leader told Air Force Magazine. Russian TU-160 and TU-135 strategic bombers take off in Russian airspace, off-limits…

USAFE’s Only Tanker Wing: Increased Work, But ‘Increased Reward, Too’

Aug. 3, 2022
Across Europe in recent months, the 15 KC-135s of the 100th Air Refueling Wing have popped up everywhere from the North Sea to the Adriatic Sea, to the skies of Poland, the Baltics and other parts of eastern Europe. With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine creating uncertainty and instability in the…