NATO Air Policing operations

U.S. Air Force News

  • Transition process improves through TAP refresh

    Before, TAP could be accomplished no later than 89 days before a military member’s separation date. Now, individuals can take advantage of the program 12-15 months before their final out — nearly a year difference.

  • Air Force motorcycle mishaps hit historic lows

    In fiscal year 2019, the Air Force saw a 69% reduction in motorcycle fatalities and a 41.5% decrease in lost-time injuries over a 10 year period. Fatalities dropped from 13 in 2010 to four in 2019 and lost-time injuries during that same period decreased from 224 to 131.

  • 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

  • Senate confirms Barrett to be Air Force secretary

    The 85 to 7 vote makes Barbara Barrett the third consecutive woman confirmed to lead the Air Force and its 685,000 total force Airmen. Barrett replaces Heather Wilson who resigned in May. Undersecretary Matthew Donovan served as acting secretary in the interim.

  • Exercise Polar Force tests Agile Combat Employment

    Exercise Polar Force 20-1 allowed Soldiers and Airmen from units across Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, to develop and strengthen the skills required to operate in austere environments and in adverse situations.

  • ENJJPT molds international guardians of freedom

    Since 1981, the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training program has played a significant role in NATO-wide pilot production. Comprised of 14 signatory nations, 13 of which are currently participating, it is one of four undergraduate pilot training programs in the Air Force.

  • CSAF, CMSAF visit US Air Force Expeditionary Center

    During their visit, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David L. Goldfein and Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force Kaleth O. Wright toured the center to engage with Airmen and gain a better understanding of its mission.

  • Incirlik AB Medics improve outdated process

    The 39th MDSS medics created a new patient travel-request form process and contributed to saving the wing approximately $34,000 and 1,300 man-hours annually. This process improved overall patient satisfaction and was recognized as the 39th Air Base Wing’s key innovation for the third quarter.

  • Air Force on schedule with new uniform issue timeline

    When Air Force officials announced last year they were adopting the Army OCP as the official utility uniform, they developed a three-year rollout timeline across the force for the entire changeover. Last week put them on target for issue to new recruits entering BMT.

  • Air Force observes National Cybersecurity Awareness Month

    The awareness month is a collaborative effort between the Department of Defense, along with the Department of Homeland Security and its public and private partners. It is up to the total force to stay vigilant, keep learning and be ready for any potential cyber threat.

  • New Air Force Justice Information System goes live

    Learning from decades of high ops tempo and web-based technologies, an Air Force team developed a $5.7 million professional system in less than 10 months that provides security forces operations with a progressive criminal data reporting system.

  • Air Force stands up new Advanced Aircraft PEO

    The new office was created to transform the Next Generation Air Dominance program into the Air Force’s Digital Century Series initiative, using digital engineering, modular open systems architecture, and agile software development to design advanced airplanes faster and enter production with a

  • Air Force recognizes Energy Action Month 2019

    During Energy Action Month, the Air Force will emphasize the need for smart energy solutions and inform Airmen, Air Force senior leaders, policy makers and aligned organizations about what they can do to effectively distribute, generate and manage resilient and reliable energy across the enterprise.

  • Midnight Sun Guardians participate in Gobi Wolf 2019

    The Mongolia National Emergency Management Administration, Mongolian Armed Forces and local Mongolian agencies partnered with their U.S. counterparts, including Airmen from the 176th Wing, Alaska Air National Guard, in Sainshand, Mongolia, during exercise Gobi Wolf 2019. The exercise centered around

  • Facilities, information technology top themes in AFMC We Need study

    Facility quality and Information Technology infrastructure topped the list of concerns identified through the Air Force Materiel Command’s AFMC We Need initiative, which aims to identify ways to best posture the command to meet the demands of the National Defense Strategy and the Air Force of the

  • Goldfein emphasizes fitness by walking (actually, running) the walk

    By the time he finished 13.1 miles later, the 59-year-old Goldfein was able to claim a personal achievement and something larger – a hard to miss statement from the highest levels about the critical role fitness plays in assuring that the Air Force meets every mission, every time and everywhere.

  • AFRL invents cargo aircraft tire change tool

    The 60th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, part of the Air Mobility Wing at Travis Air Force Base, California, who maintains the U. S. Air Force’s largest aircraft, the C-5M Super Galaxy, contacted the AFRL's JFWORX team seeking assistance to increase the safety and decrease the manpower requirements

  • Air Force fields new hiring process for new first sergeants

    The Air Force has removed the first sergeant assignment from developmental special duty and is using a combination volunteer and nomination process when bringing on first sergeants for their initial assignments in the career field to ensure the right Airmen are selected and assigned to these special

  • CMSAF discusses leading with purpose

    Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force Kaleth O. Wright represents the highest enlisted level of leadership and provides direction for the enlisted force, representing their interests, as appropriate, to the American public and to those in all levels of government. Wright’s speech focused on taking care

  • Roper: Air Force of the future is faster, smarter, bolder

    “To become a more competitive acquisition system, the Air Force needs to be aware of trends in technology,” said Dr. Will Roper, assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, technology and logistics. “The world is changing, we have to change with it. The key is to decide which technology

  • AFGSC commander speaks on competitive edge, long-term strategic competition

    Starting with the shift in our nation’s defensive posture as a result of the 2018 National Defense Strategy, Gen. Timothy Ray, Air Force Global Strike Command commander, highlighted the reemergence of long-term strategic competition and great power competition. Key to this discussion is the role the

  • CMSAF to engage with ACC Airmen about resiliency through video games

    Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force Kaleth O. Wright will play a football video game with three Airmen on this live-stream platform to discuss how Airmen can influence each other and develop a resilient organizational culture. The ACC Airmen will be chosen through a video contest that ends on

  • Safety professionals recognized at 2019 NSC Congress and Expo

    The National Safety Council developed the Rising Stars of Safety to help highlight up-and-coming safety professionals. Winners show leadership in safety and bring new ideas to existing problems at their organizations. The Air Force is the only organization, federal or industry, which has had a

  • CMSAF emphasizes human connections at Hanscom all call

    Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force Kaleth O. Wright spoke about resilience and leadership topics during a town hall Sept. 6.More than 400 Airmen from Hanscom AFB, as well as other invited Airmen from geographically separated units, listened as Wright touched on those topics and answered questions.

  • JB Charleston begins recovery operations after Hurricane Dorian

    Recovery teams will return to the base and work to ensure JB Charleston’s facilities, infrastructure and homes are safe for the return of its service members and families. Hurricane recovery teams are expected to begin travel back to JB Charleston as soon as possible but when it is safe to do so

  • CDO, AFIMSC enable readiness through cloud-based visualization tool

    The VAULT Platform is the data office-sponsored platform that provides cyber-secure, cloud-based tools to connect, find, share and learn from Air Force data. It was implemented to be fully compliant with the Air Force Data Services Reference Architecture (Air Force released in February 2019). The

  • Shaw AFB prepares for Hurricane Dorian

    Service members have been working hard to protect the installation against potential wind damage and flooding, such as placing sandbags around buildings, securing objects that could become flying hazards and fueling generators for possible power outages.

  • ACC maintains readiness through hurricane preparation

    Aircraft from Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina; Moody Air Force Base and Robins Air Force Base, Georgia; and Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina, began evacuating to inland bases Sept. 2.

  • Air Force preps for Hurricane Dorian

    As of Sept. 3, Patrick Air Force Base, Florida, entered Hurricane Condition, or HURCON, 1, which indicates surface winds in excess of 50 knots (58 mph) could arrive in the area of Patrick AFB and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station within 12 hours. The base issued a limited evacuation order Aug. 31,

  • Maxwell AFB opens for Hurricane Dorian support

    Personnel from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Defense Logistics Agency arrived Aug. 29 to begin preparations for receiving trailers of food, water and other necessary supplies FEMA may use after the hurricane passes.

  • Ninth annual African Air Chiefs Symposium comes to an end

    The ninth annual African Air Chiefs Symposium concluded following four days of collaboration and strategic communications between air chiefs and senior leaders from 35 African air forces along with senior leadership from U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Air Forces Africa.

  • Innovative approach increases polygraph efficiency

    Recognizing this directly hindered conducting polygraph examinations, the AFOSI 2nd Field Investigations Squadron Polygraph Office, Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, did something innovative about it.

  • Air Force mandates dedicated space for nursing mothers

    The policy enables commanders to support nursing mothers by outlining procedures and requirements for establishing a private, secure (lockable from the inside) and sanitary location for the purpose of breastfeeding and/or expressing breast milk.

  • DoD to begin next major phase of military hospital consolidation

    On Oct. 1, the Army, Navy and Air Force will begin the final two years of a multiyear transition to shift administration and management of their medical facilities to the Defense Health Agency, changes that are "transformational and far-reaching," said Vice Admiral Raquel Bono, DHA director.

  • Wounded warrior talks resiliency during tactical pause

    In the wake of Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David L. Goldfein’s Resiliency Tactical Pause directive, Master Sgt. Jose E. Rijos, Air Force Wounded Warrior ambassador, recounted the traumas of his career with his service dog, Cairo, at his side.

  • BESPIN-AFIMSC alliance improves mission support capabilities

    BESPIN and AFIMSC are partnering to develop two mobile applications: an app connecting the military community to base events and an app to improve contractor accountability. The apps were two of the top three ideas chosen during AFIMSC’s inaugural Innovation Rodeo March 1.

  • AFGSC professional development programs help Airmen grow

    In Air Force Global Strike Command, there are a number of programs designed to develop the understanding and knowledge of nuclear operations and critical thinking for officers, enlisted members and civilians as well as broaden their view of the mission.

  • Hill AFB wins DOE award for energy efficiency

    The annual award recognizes outstanding contributions in the areas of energy efficiency, water conservation and the use of renewable energy technologies at federal facilities.

  • US, NATO allies team up for Icelandic Air Surveillance exercise

    During exercise Icelandic Air Surveillance 2019, Airmen from the 480th Fighter Squadron, Spangdahlem Air Base, worked to establish air surveillance and interception coverage over Keflavik AB, Iceland, to maintain the integrity of the NATO airspace, July 29-Aug. 10.

  • Joint-nation alliance meets, trains at Travis AFB

    The purpose of the group, according to Royal Australian Air Force Wing Commander Brady Cummins, Australian representative on the AFIC Management Committee, is to identify and resolve current and future interoperability challenges by leveraging collective expertise.

  • 15th Wing hosts CSAF at Hickam Airfield

    During his visit, Goldfein learned about the unique history, mission and challenges of the 15th Wing, while Mrs. Goldfein toured JB Pearl Harbor-Hickam historic housing and the Child Development Center.

  • How pilot training has changed over the years

    With senior leadership making innovation a priority, the Air Force has changed how Airmen are trained and how they become proficient at their jobs. This in turn has changed the way the Air Force develops pilots and what pilot training currently looks like.

  • AFSPC rolls out new enterprise data strategy

    The command’s enterprise data strategy will provide the means to ensure greater mission success. It is a framework that integrates space enterprise data sources into a common, resilient and agile architecture optimized for space domain awareness and responsive multi-domain operations at speed and

  • AFRL’s Digital Hangar to support lifecycle management of aerospace systems

    The Air Force Research Laboratory’s “Digital Hangar,” a concept created by Dr. Rick Graves, an Air Force Research Laboratory’s design and analysis branch aerospace research engineer, is a virtual repository containing digital surrogates of aerospace systems that have been gated through rigorous

  • AF first sergeants gather, train to answer CSAF Squadron Revitalization Call

    More than 210 first sergeants from across the Air Force did their part to aid the CSAF’s squadron revitalization effort, as they gathered at the I.G. Brown Training and Education Center at McGhee Tyson Air National Guard Base in Louisville, Tennessee, July 21-27, for a summit and symposium to become

  • AFIMSC navigates storms, disasters to exceed 84% budget execution

    Managed by the Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center, the 84.4% execution marks the third consecutive year AFIMSC exceeded Air Force Materiel Command’s execution goal in the I&MS portfolio. It follows last year’s record-setting 84.8% execution rate, said Chris Underwood, AFIMSC’s Budget

  • Academy plays central role in developing tomorrow’s STEM leaders

    Cadets at the Air Force Academy today are immersed in hands-on STEM programs while also exposed to a broad education in the humanities and non-technical disciplines. All cadets take at least two-thirds of their coursework in a cross-disciplinary core and almost half of all their courses are in STEM

  • Air Force brings defense planning into 21st century through modern software

    For much of the defense community, the ease and functionality of modern technology is not translated to military planning systems. While cumbersome acquisitions processes, funding issues and security concerns are often valid causes, many Department of Defense processes (and any software associated

  • AETC welcomes new commander

    Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David L. Goldfein presided over the ceremony and emphasized the importance of the AETC mission and he commended members of the command for their efforts. He listed Pilot Training Next, force development, a campaign of learning, squadron commander school and the overhaul

  • Air Force Uniform Office seeks feedback on maternity uniforms

    All Air Force women will receive an email message from the Air Force Survey Office with a unique link inviting them to take the survey. To determine who should take the full survey, the Uniform Office is asking participants to respond to the first survey question.

  • Air Force targets drones during latest Pitch Day

    The day-long event began with thirteen pitches from businesses, followed by deliberations by Air Force junior officers and civilians, who chose to award Phase 1 small business contracts to every Pitch Day participant.

  • Kentucky Air Guard home to DoD’s only search and rescue dog

    In response to scenarios like the Haitian earthquake, Parsons spearheaded a new approach, developing the squadron’s Search and Rescue K-9 program. The effort, launched in 2018, is designed to increase the capabilities of disaster response teams in locating and recovering personnel through the use of

  • Vt. ANG prepares for F-35 arrival

    The partnership between the 158th FW consists of the visiting staff from BAE Systems, Inc., Lockheed Martin and Pratt & Whitney aerospace company who are assisting members through the technical phases of induction.

  • Air Force announces the 12 Outstanding Airmen of 2019

    An Air Force selection board at the Air Force’s Personnel Center considered 36 nominees who represented major commands, direct reporting units, field operating agencies and Headquarters Air Force. The board selected the 12 Airmen based on superior leadership, job performance and personal

  • CSAF visits Spangdahlem AB

    Goldfein attended a luncheon at the base dining facility with squadron commanders and superintendents from the 52nd Fighter Wing before meeting with all Sabers to discuss ongoing Air Force initiatives and the base’s significance in the overall Air Force mission.

  • 315th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron trains alongside Royal Air Force

    Reservists from the U.S. Air Force Reserve 315th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron and Royal Auxiliary Air Force No. 4626 Squadron focused on sharing key aeromedical evacuation skills and leadership and teamwork experiences. Because both units are made up primarily of reservists, the training provided