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U.S. Air Force News

  • Fiscal year 21 drives innovation, readiness across command, enterprise

    The Air Force Materiel Command executed more than $68.5 billion across all funding areas in fiscal year 2021, closing out the year 99.9% obligated despite challenges related to COVID-19, Operation Allies Refuge and Welcome, underfunded enterprise programs, innovation needs and more.

  • AFIMSC presses till final hours to execute $7 billion in FY21

    The Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center closed out an extremely tight year in the last hours of fiscal year 2021, executing more than $7 billion to attain close to 99.9% obligation of the operations and maintenance portfolio across the enterprise.

  • Roth, Brown, Raymond present Air, Space Forces priorities to Congress

    Appearing alongside Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown, Jr., and Chief of Space Operations Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond, Roth told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense that the Air and Space Forces continue to recalibrate their practices, personnel and policies to address “peer

  • DoD releases 2020 CONUS COLA rates

    The Defense Department released Dec. 20 the 2020 Continental United States Cost of Living Allowance rates, which will take effect Jan. 1, 2020. In 2020, the total number of service members receiving CONUS COLA will decline by 2,600.

  • Goldfein outlines risks of budget uncertainties

    Funding for the entire U.S. government expires Nov. 22 at 12:01 a.m. unless Congress acts. While progress on forging a budget agreement has been slow, congressional aides say there is movement toward approving a short-term spending plan that keeps the government running into December.

  • AFMC successfully executes $66 billion portfolio in FY19

    Organizationally, AFMC manages 34% of the overall budget for the Air Force; executing funds across six centers, multiple platforms and Air Force installations, with missions ranging from, but not limited to, installation support and readiness to research and development, sustainment and technology

  • Air Force releases 2018 Acquisition Report

    The Air Force released the Fiscal Year 2018 Air Force Acquisition Annual Report April 2, emphasizing the need to field tomorrow’s Air Force faster and smarter.

  • AFIMSC completes historic fiscal year closeout

    The Air Force executed a record $6.9 billion in the installation and mission support portfolio during fiscal 2018, nearly $1 billion more than last year, and culminating in a successful, historic fiscal year close out.

  • SECAF/CSAF Letter to Airmen: Government Shutdown

    To the Airmen of the United States Air Force:As you are no doubt aware, funding for the federal government expired at midnight. The administration is urging Congress to enact a short term continuing resolution to fund the federal government to allow Congress more time to finalize the budget for the

  • AF rolls out fiscal 2018 space budget

    Air Force leaders met with media to discuss specifics of the service’s fiscal 2018 space investment budget at the Pentagon May 24, 2017. The request totals $7.75 billion, an approximately 20 percent increase from fiscal year 2017.

  • AF presents fiscal year 2018 budget

    The Air Force presented its fiscal year 2018 president's budget request May 23, 2017, following the Defense Department and sister services’ budget briefings.

  • Academy, Kirtland Airmen rewarded for API ideas

    A human resources assistant at the Air Force Academy and an Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center (AFOTEC) officer at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, will be among the first to receive financial rewards from the Airmen Powered by Innovation program.

  • Turning the page in financial improvement

    Oct. 1 marked not only the beginning of a new fiscal year but also the start of a new chapter in Air Force Financial Improvement and Audit Readiness that has been ten years in the making.

  • AF senior leader: more Air Force needed

    The one thing everyone wants, and needs, is more Air Force, Undersecretary of the Air Force Eric Fanning told Airmen during a town-hall meeting and members of the Fifth Annual National Summit on Strategic Communications at the Washington Plaza Hotel recently.

  • DOD shows science, technology success despite hard year for workforce

    Despite a year of workforce furloughs and dwindling budgets, the Defense Department’s science and technology enterprise reports advances ranging from a full hypersonic weapon system and high-energy lasers to light-based brain treatments and new core capabilities in cyber warfare, senior DOD

  • Smarter spending for Air Force acquisitions

    Finding efficiencies within the acquisition process was the top talking point for Maj. Gen. Wendy Masiello, deputy assistant secretary for contracting, when she spoke with members of the Air Force Association and the media during the AFA’s monthly breakfast April 16, 2014, in Arlington, Va.

  • SecAF, CSAF testify on Air Force posture

    The fiscal and security challenges triggered by budgetary constraints are posing problems for Air Force strategy, the service’s secretary told the Senate Armed Services Committee April 10.

  • Force Improvement Program team moving forward

    Air Force Global Strike Command's Force Improvement Program team wrapped up their visits to the command's missile wings last month, where they were tasked with identifying challenges associated with performing missile duties and working with Airmen to propose solutions.

  • AF requests BRAC from House Appropriations Committee

    The Air Force presented to the House Appropriations Committee panel its fiscal 2015 budget request March 12, showing it will take more risk with military construction and military housing and is requesting another round of base realignments and closures.

  • CHIEFchat: CMSAF talks about force management, EPRs

    Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force James A. Cody addressed upcoming changes to enlisted performance reports and effects of force management during his 2nd worldwide CHIEFchat at Defense Media Activity here Jan. 9. CHIEFchat is a recurring initiative, designed to give Airmen around the world a

  • DOS rollback included in FY14 force management

    In addition to force management programs announced in July, the Air Force will implement the Enlisted Date of Separation Rollback Program for fiscal 2014, Air Force Personnel Center officials said Dec. 17.

  • AF envisions smaller force to preserve readiness

    Discussing upcoming budgetary variables during a Pentagon news conference today, the Air Force's top civilian leader for the past six months addressed the inevitability of a smaller force.

  • AF officials announce FY14 civilian workforce shaping

    The Air Force will reduce the size of its civilian workforce by about 900 positions in addition to maintaining approximately 7,000 vacancies across the force to meet the demands of a constrained fiscal 2014 budget, officials announced.

  • Memo prepares DOD employees for government shutdown

    Although Defense Department officials believe a government shutdown can be avoided when the new fiscal year begins Oct. 1, they want DOD employees to be prepared for the possibility, Deputy Defense Secretary Ash Carter said in a memo issued to the workforce Sept. 23.

  • Hagel calls DOD education support a strategic priority

    The Defense Department's commitment to military families and to quality education for military children is a strategic imperative that leaders will maintain, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said in remarks July 9.During closing remarks at the Military Child Education Coalition's 15th National Training

  • Website allows units to claim repurposed supplies, save money

    Units in U.S. Air Forces in Europe-Air Forces Africa now have the ability to obtain equipment and supplies for free through the command's Business Transformation Office Airmen's List SharePoint site. The site, accessible through the USAFE Portal, allows unit representatives to post equipment or

  • Tinker AFB, community develop cost-saving initiatives

    In light of defense budget constraints, officials from Tinker Air Force Base and the local community partnered to develop and implement cost-saving initiatives expected to save the base more than $4,000 annually.In November 2012, Tinker AFB and local community members from Del City, Midwest City and

  • Official explains tuition assistance quality assurance program

    To increase stewardship and optimize service members' educational experiences, Defense Department officials have developed a multifaceted quality assurance program to improve tuition assistance, the assistant secretary of defense for readiness and force management said on Capitol Hill June 12.In

  • Andrews Airmen powered by innovation

    Airmen with the 11th Logistics Readiness Squadron here answered the call to innovate as the Air Force faces a slashed budget this year.The four-member logistics team realized JB Andrews could save more than $10,000 per year by changing the way they acquired cars used to transport distinguished

  • Defense contractors will share burdens of furloughs, Hagel says

    The Defense Department is reviewing all of its contracts, and DOD contractors will share the burden of spending cuts, including the furloughs facing the department's civilian workforce, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told senators June 11.Hagel testified before the Senate Appropriations Committee's

  • USAFE-AFAFRICA infrastructure under pressure

    U.S. Air Forces in Europe-Air Forces Africa is seeing the ripple effect from sequestration. Budget cuts for this fiscal year to facilities sustainment and restoration are expected to cause readiness issues now and into the future. Lt. Gen. Tom Jones, the USAFE-AFAFRICA interim commander, said these

  • Air Force Reserve submits construction plans to Senate

    The top leaders from the Air Force's active and reserve components went to Capitol Hill May 15 to provide statements and answer questions about their plans for new construction projects in fiscal 2014.Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., chairman, and Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., the ranking member of the

  • DOD Comptroller: Sequestration devastates U.S. military readiness

    During a Senate hearing yesterday on President Barack Obama's $9.5 billion military construction budget request for fiscal 2014, Defense Department Comptroller Robert F. Hale said the severe and abrupt budget cuts imposed by sequestration are devastating the U.S. armed forces.Hale and John Conger,

  • AF leaders highlight space program successes, address FY14 budget

    Space today is in as good a position as it's been in a very long time, said Richard McKinney, the deputy under secretary of the Air Force for space. McKinney, along with Dr. Jamie Morin, the acting under secretary of the Air Force, and Brig. Gen. Robert McMurry, the director of space programs for

  • Budget request provides for best Air Force possible, Welsh says

    The Air Force's $114.1 billion fiscal 2014 budget request will provide for the most capable airpower arm possible, the Air Force chief of staff said here today.Testifying with Secretary of the Air Force Michael B. Donley, Gen. Mark A. Welsh III told the House Armed Services Committee his service's

  • AF to retain additional intratheater airlift aircraft through fiscal 2014

    The Air Force announced it will retain additional airlift aircraft through fiscal 2014 in response to a congressional mandate to retain an inventory of 358 intratheater airlift aircraft.The Fiscal Year 2013 National Defense Authorization Act signed into law Jan. 3, 2013, included language directing

  • Furloughs can begin April 26, DOD comptroller says

    Unless Congress acts to end sequestration, furloughs for Defense Department civilian employees can begin April 26, the department's comptroller said here March 11.Robert F. Hale discussed the furlough planning process with a Pentagon audience. The comptroller also took questions sent in via Facebook

  • Service chiefs ask congress for fiscal help

    The senior officers from the Air Force, Army, Navy and Marine Corps asked Congress March 5 for more spending flexibility so they can maintain military readiness as the sequester's across-the-board budget cuts take effect.Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Welsh III, Army Chief of Staff Gen.

  • Strategic Command: Cuts could erode capabilities

    The U.S. Strategic Command can execute its full mission responsibilities today, but the impacts of fiscal uncertainty and declining resources in the next six months or a year could change that, Air Force Gen. C. Robert Kehler said today.Testifying here before the House Armed Services Committee,

  • AF personnel chief: 'sequestration sends wrong signal to workforce'

    The Air Force's top personnel chief testified to Congress on the impact to military end strength in a budget constrained environment on Capitol Hill Feb. 27 during a House Armed Services Subcommittee military personnel hearing.Lt. Gen. Darrell D. Jones, the Air Force deputy chief of staff for

  • AF leaders warn of sequester impacts on replacing an aging fleet

    Two senior Air Force leaders here this week warned of the impacts sequestration and a continuing resolution will have on the service's acquisitions and programs. Lt. Gens. Michael Moeller, the deputy chief of staff for strategic plans and programs, and Charles Davis, the military deputy, office of

  • If sequestration triggers, furloughs begin in late April

    If sequestration is triggered next week, unpaid furloughs for civilian Defense Department employees will start in late April, Pentagon officials said here today.Sequestration is a provision in budget law that will trigger major across-the-board spending cuts March 1 unless Congress agrees on an

  • Panetta issues message to DOD workforce on sequestration

    With major, across-the-board defense spending cuts scheduled to take effect March 1, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta today issued a message to the Defense Department workforce.Here is the secretary's message:For more than a year and a half, the president, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and I have

  • ACC continues planning for sequestration impacts

    Air Combat Command officials continue to take actions to slow, and within the near-term dramatically restrict, fiscal 2013 spending in light of pending sequestration and a projected $1.8 billion shortfall in overseas contingency funding."We are prioritizing our efforts to sustain force structure and

  • Welsh: Sequestration will 'undermine' readiness

    Unprecedented budget factors have placed the nation's defense strategy in jeopardy, senior Department of Defense leaders told the Senate Armed Services Committee Feb. 12.During his opening remarks, the chief of staff of the Air Force stressed the severity of the current fiscal

  • AF leaders: Sequestration, more budget cuts will be devastating

    Sequestration would leave the Air Force with untrained people, a lack of equipment and be "devastating" to the service, officials said Feb. 7.The warning echoes what Department of Defense officials have stated for months about across-the-board defense cuts, in addition to an ongoing continuing

  • Air Force nuclear force anticipates budget constraints

    The Air Force Global Strike Command predicts budget cuts triggered by sequestration will reduce B-52 flying hours by 10 percent and lead to a 20 percent reduction in overall flying hours should the law kick in on March 1, Air Force Lt. Gen. James M. Kowalski said.Kowalski, the commander of Air Force

  • Despite Smaller Budget, Air Force Seeks to Protect Satellites

    Despite tremendous budget uncertainty and a shrinking bottom line, the commander of the Air Force Space Command said that he will do his best to protect all of the Air Force's satellite constellations.Speaking with reporters at a recent meeting of the Defense Writers Group, Air Force Gen. William L.

  • Air Force implements civilian hiring freeze

    Air Force senior leaders directed a force-wide hiring freeze among other workforce actions in a memorandum sent to senior commanders Jan. 16.The actions are part of the Air Force's efforts to pursue reversible or recoverable steps to avoid impacts to core readiness caused by the looming possibility

  • Morin talks sequestration, near-term budget actions

    The acting under secretary of the Air Force described how the nation's fiscal challenges are affecting the service to a group of civic and industry leaders in Arlington, Va., Jan. 15.Dr. Jamie Morin spoke to members of industry, the Air Force, the Air Force Association and media as part of AFA's

  • Air Force leaders deliver budget guidance to force

    Air Force leaders delivered guidance to the force recently, telling them to begin planning for the uncertain budget environment ahead, Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley said Jan. 11 in a press briefing."Even though we're not presuming this worst case will occur, prudent planning for the

  • Air Force leaders will deliver budget guidance to force in days

    Air Force leaders will deliver guidance to the force in a few days to begin prudent planning for the uncertain budget environment ahead, Air Force Secretary Michael B. Donley said here Jan. 11.Donley and Gen. Mark A. Welsh III, the Air Force chief of staff, briefed Pentagon reporters Jan. 11, on the

  • Panetta: Fiscal crisis poses biggest immediate threat to DOD

    The "perfect storm of budget uncertainty" howling around his department is the biggest immediate threat facing the U.S. military, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta told reporters here today.Panetta and Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stressed during a regular

  • Fiscal cliff legislation affects military, civilian paychecks

    The legislation President Barack Obama signed Jan. 2 postponed the fiscal cliff and means changes to military and civilian paychecks, Defense Finance and Accounting Service officials said today.The legislation increases Social Security withholding taxes to 6.2 percent. For the past two years during

  • Obama Signs $633 Billion Defense Authorization Act

    President Barack Obama signed the $633 billion fiscal 2013 National Defense Authorization Act into law yesterday.The legislation, which cleared Congress last month, authorizes the department to act in any number of instances. "There are certain things that cannot be done without [the authorization

  • Legislators avoid fiscal cliff, delay sequester process

    Congress has avoided the fiscal cliff, but Pentagon Press Secretary George Little called on the body to continue efforts to permanently eliminate the threat of sequestration.The House of Representatives passed a Senate proposal that avoided the fiscal cliff last night. Defense Secretary Leon E.

  • Panetta memo describes possible sequestration effects

    While many remain hopeful that Congress and the administration will reach a deal that avoids sequestration, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta has issued a memo describing the potential implications of going over the fiscal cliff.Planning for the effects of an across-the-board cut in defense spending

  • DOD prepares for potential sequestration

    The Office of Management and Budget has instructed the Department of Defense to pursue internal planning to meet required budget cuts if sequestration goes into effect Jan. 3."We are at the very start of this process," said Dr. George Little, acting assistant secretary of defense for public affairs,

  • Airmen save AF more than a million dollars

    The 437th Aerial Port Squadron Load Planning Airmen answered the call when the Air Mobility Command Fuel Efficiency Office asked AMC aerial port squadrons to maximize fuel usage aboard C-17 Globemaster III's and other air frames using a new initiative called precession loading.Before the initiative

  • SecAF declares 'Modernization can't wait'

    The Air Force's senior civilian addressed the importance of modernization and the challenges ahead for the Air Force at the 2012 Aerospace and Defense Investor Conference here Nov. 29."Among the most difficult challenges facing the Air Force is the need to modernize our aging aircraft inventory as

  • SecAF talks Pacific airpower

    Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley met with Team Andersen Airmen at an Airman's Call here Nov. 20. The secretary discussed several topics of national and international interest, to include the importance of Guam in the Asia-Pacific region, restructuring the size of the Air Force, changes in

  • Morin talks space superiority at AFA conference

    Acting Under Secretary of the Air Force Dr. Jamie Morin addressed more than 320 Airmen, industry officials and Air Force Association members at AFA's Global Warfare Symposium in Los Angeles, Calif., Nov. 15.Morin opened the symposium with a discussion on space superiority as an enduring source of

  • SecAF addresses rebalance to the Pacific

    Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley spoke about the Air Force's role in the U.S. defense strategy to rebalance to the Asia-Pacific during the Air Force Association's Global Warfare Symposium in Los Angeles, Calif., Nov. 16. Donley closed the symposium, which gathered more than 320 Airmen,

  • New process helps prevent adverse civilian pay, records impact

    Civilian employees' supervisors will now get automatic email reminders 45 and 20 days before personnel actions are due to help prevent adverse impact on civilian pay and records, Air Force Personnel Center officials said.Automatic notifications will go out for various actions, including when a

  • Comptroller outlines continuing resolution, sequestration

    The continuing resolution the Senate approved Sept. 22 and the president is expected to sign this week will affect short- and long-term Defense Department spending in coming months, a senior defense official said today.Pentagon Comptroller Robert F. Hale spoke on "Financing Defense: Strategies for

  • Donley talks sequestration, explains AF budget plans

    The threat of sequestration continues to overhang "all budget decisions across the federal government," said Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley here Sept. 17.During his keynote remarks at the 2012 Air Force Association Air and Space Conference and Technology Exposition, Donley conveyed the

  • AFGLSC now part of Air Force Sustainment Center

    The Air Force Global Logistics Support Center officially became part of the Air Force Sustainment Center during a ceremony here July 11.Gen. Janet Wolfenbarger, commander of Air Force Materiel Command, officiated the ceremony. The change is part of an AFMC construct that consolidates the command's