NATO Air Policing operations

U.S. Air Force News

  • 86th VRS rolls onto virtual highway

    Members of the 86th Vehicle Readiness Squadron at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, are doing exactly that by acquiring a new driving simulator to train Airmen that aren’t familiar with German roads and weather conditions.

  • 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.

  • Air traffic control: Keeping the skies safe

    Similar to other careers, on-the-job training for air traffic controllers is a must in order to ensure agile combat airlift is delivered anywhere and anytime. Airmen assigned to this unit learn alongside a fully qualified and experienced trainer, so there is no room for error when it comes to

  • DoD agency keeps file swaps safe

    Now in the wheelhouse of DISA, the file transfer capability has been rebranded DoD SAFE, or secure access file exchange. The DoD SAFE capability is part of DISA's Defense Collaboration Services suite of applications.

  • 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.

  • Little Rock AFB EOD supports Ark., surrounding states

    The Explosive Ordnance Disposal team at Little Rock Air Force Base completes countless hours of training and faces ample challenges in order to support the base and the entire state of Arkansas, as well as parts of Mississippi and Tennessee, to support a variety of military installations.

  • AF Week in Photos

    This week's photos feature Airmen from around the globe involved in activities supporting expeditionary operations and defending America. This weekly feature showcases the men and women of the Air Force.

  • 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.

  • Emerging technology may save Airmen’s lives

    This focus on readiness was on display Aug. 5 during a SERE exercise in Vallejo, California, which provided Airmen an opportunity to train using realistic scenarios while testing new technology.

  • AF Week in Photos

    This week's photos feature Airmen from around the globe involved in activities supporting expeditionary operations and defending America. This weekly feature showcases the men and women of the Air Force.

  • 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.

  • FTX trains Airmen for deployed environment

    While at Quantico, the 633rd SFS members, known as defenders, sharpened their skills while conducting day and night reconnaissance operations, establishing a forward operating base, and clearing villages to acquire a specific target.

  • 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

  • Speed wins: MacDill AFB contracting awards 100k in swift fashion

    With the success of its first Pitch Day, MacDill AFB showcased how partnerships with local businesses are an integral part of advancing innovation to improve warfighting capabilities. Even further, Pitch Day was a testament to the base’s efforts to open their doors even more to small businesses in

  • AF Week in Photos

    This week's photos feature Airmen from around the globe involved in activities supporting expeditionary operations and defending America. This weekly feature showcases the men and women of the Air Force.

  • Eglin AFB pilots receive ratings for new helicopter

    Maj. Zach Roycroft and Tony Arrington completed the five-week contracted course on the civilian counterpart to the Air Force’s new MH-139 helicopter. The helicopter will replace the Air Force’s aging UH-1N Huey.

  • 621st CRW, joint partners team up for exercise

    In this joint training exercise, approximately 125 Airmen from the 621st Contingency Response Wing teamed up with about 50 689th Rapid Port Opening Element Soldiers and five Defense Logistics Agency’s Rapid Deployment Team-Blue members to conduct Joint Task Force-Port Opening in order to bring

  • Evolution of space: 2nd SOPS celebrates GPS Block III on-orbit test

    Lockheed Martin presented the 2nd Space Operations Squadron with a GPS Block III model satellite to celebrate the successful on-orbit testing of the new GPS III satellite at Schriever Air Force Base, July 29.Staff Sgt. Joseph Wood, 2nd SOPS mission chief, said the model is a physical representation

  • Environmental restoration summits promote whole-of-government response

    The Air Force Civil Engineer Center, which provides environmental remediation support to Air Force headquarters, major commands and installations, reintroduced the annual summits - an eastern, western and central - in 2016. The goal was to strengthen relationships between the Air Force, state and

  • CSAF visits Greenland

    Thule AFB supports three diverse mission sets: tactical warning of potential ballistic missile attacks against the United States and Canada as part of the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System; providing space situational awareness by tracking manmade objects in orbit; and satellite command and

  • 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

  • Yokota AB hosts 2019 Mid-Air Collision Avoidance Conference

    The conference provided 64 Japanese pilots with the unique opportunity to hear briefings from military personnel, discussing airspace boundaries, flight routes and daily operations with a singular goal in mind, to increase awareness and promote safety in the skies over Yokota AB and the surrounding

  • Operation Rapid Forge concludes

    The 10-day operation helped ensure U.S. forces’ ability to fulfill the European Deterrence Initiative, a policy to assure and defend NATO allies, while promoting deterrence in an increasingly complex security environment.

  • AFIMSC changes command

    “To all the warfighters of AFIMSC, (Marian and I) are honored and humbled to be on your team and look forward to meeting you and getting to know each one of you,” Wilcox said.

  • 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.

  • 435th CRS teaches offload methods in Poland

    During Aviation Rotation 19-3, a bilateral training exercise to improve joint functions between the U.S. and Polish militaries, members from the 435th Contingency Response Squadron worked to teach combat offload procedures at Powidz Air Base, Poland.

  • 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

  • Donovan visits the ‘World’s Premier Gateway to Space’

    50 years after the U.S. first put man on the moon, Acting Secretary of the Air Force Matthew Donovan – along with Vice President of the United States Mike Pence, NASA employees and thousands watching across the world – looked back on this historic moment at the Apollo 11 anniversary event at the

  • Donovan visits B-21, X-37B facilities, L3 Harris Technologies

    Acting Secretary of the Air Force Matthew Donovan visited Northrop Grumman’s B-21 Design and Development Headquarters and the Kennedy Space Center to review the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle Processing Facility, as well as the newly merged L3 Harris Technologies, Inc.

  • 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

  • 380th AEW AWACS provide the big picture to combatant commanders

    Staff Sgt. Joshua Payne, 968th Expeditionary Airborne Air Control Squadron senior surveillance technician, works within a crew that regularly reaches more than 20, each having their own specific purpose on a very technical level. Their role is to help the pilot expand this limited scope of data, and

  • Hill AFB Airmen expand F-35A combat capability in Rapid Forge

    The goal is to expand the Air Force’s adaptive or agile basing ability, a concept in which aircraft operate from forward, temporary, sometimes contested locations. The ability to land, refuel and rearm at forward airfields gives commanders more flexibility to strike and limits enemies’ ability to

  • Artist to Airman: Street artist to art of war

    Muralist, painter, street artist and 315th Airlift Wing Reservist, Staff Sgt. Corban Lundborg, combat photojournalist with the 4th Combat Camera Squadron at Joint Base Charleston, used his creative talent and public affairs training to win 2018 Air Force Photographer of the Year and first place in

  • Final AC-130U Spooky returns from combat deployment

    While still on alert to respond to contingencies as needed for the next few months, the Spooky is being replaced downrange by the AC-130J Ghostrider, the most lethal and innovative gunship in the world.

  • ACC commander speaks at Joint Warfighting Forum

    Air Force Gen. Mike Holmes delivered remarks to the audience of military and industry partners about the future of armed conflict and the importance of integrated systems of command and control.

  • Convoys: Going where no one else can

    Airmen from the 726th Air Control Squadron offer an inside look on what makes a successful convoy while supporting Hardrock Exercise 19-2 July 14, at Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho.

  • 563d RQG Airmen rescue injured Mexican sailors

    Airmen from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base’s 563rd Rescue Group traveled more than 1700 miles to save two critically injured Mexican fishermen onboard the Mazatun fishing vessel, July 10.

  • Whiteman AFB commemorates 30-year anniversary of B-2 test flight

    For three decades, B-2 crews have participated in five major military operations and countless training engagements. The bomber has completed missions in Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq and, most recently, Libya. The B-2 was also the first aircraft over Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks, for which

  • Wright-Patterson AFB opens cyber defense facility

    One of the Air Force’s ongoing challenges is to create processes, infrastructure and capabilities to counter threats to its weapon systems. To address this, organizations are looking at creative ways to forge partnerships and alliances to advance the cyber resiliency of weapon systems by protecting

  • 57th Rescue Squadron stays rapidly ready

    The 57th Rescue Squadron participates in jump training at least once a quarter, over both land and sea, to keep their skills and knowledge sharp in case they are ever needed in an emergency. The training not only benefits the pararescuemen, but requires harmonization with the squadron’s support

  • Rescue helicopter pilots showcase VR capability to ACC leadership

    The trainer allows four people to don VR headgear and simultaneously enter a server to fly a virtual HH-60G Pave Hawk combat search and rescue helicopter in simulated training missions. The controls are the same equipment the helicopter uses to add further realism to the VR environment.

  • ACC commander holds NAF integration town hall

    Air Combat Command announced the plans for this reorganization in April of this year as a way to better integrate cyber effects, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations, electronic warfare operations and information operations. The synergy between cyber, ISR, EW and IO will increase

  • U.S., Indonesian air forces wrap up Cope West ‘19

    Cope West is designed to advance interoperability and build upon already-established partnerships between U.S. military forces and Indonesian air forces, with the end goal of enhancing both sides’ combat capabilities and unit readiness.

  • Air Force gathers innovators for Tyndall AFB rebuild

    To that end, members of the Tyndall Program Management Office, along with Air Force experts, industry and community leaders participated in an AFWERX-sponsored workshop June 25-26 in Las Vegas to rebuild the installation as a “base of the future.”

  • Aircrew gets new anti-smoke goggles

    With innovation, the new ASGs are now a three-part system. The suspension frame itself is still made the same with the nape pad attached, while the goggles and oxygen mask portion have been upgraded.

  • AFMC launches “AFMC we need” initiative

    The command-wide activity will seek the input of military and civilian Airmen across the headquarters and center footprints to recommend changes to posture the command for mission success in the decades to come.

  • Gunfighters use 1950s tech on F-35 for a huge win

    Airmen from the 366th Logistics Readiness Squadron, also known as Gunfighters, are the first in the Air Force to perform hot-pit refueling on F-35 Lightning II’s with a Type 1 hydrant system from the 1950s and hose cart from the 1970s.

  • First virtual reality training arrives at Keesler AFB

    The 334th Training Squadron incorporated the first virtual reality training for airfield management students in the Air Force at Keesler Air Force Base, June 28, so they can get more of a “hands-on” learning experience.

  • Multinational Heavy Airlift Wing celebrates 10th anniversary

    The SAC program is an initial 30-year commitment and consists of NATO members Hungary, Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and the U.S. and Partnership for Peace nations Finland and Sweden.

  • Team Offutt restores lighthouse in the sky

    The TACAN system was only two years old when the transponder cabinet in which it is housed was damaged by flood waters March. While the outer shell remained intact, the inside components were heavily impaired.

  • AFIT students inform Pentagon energy initiative as part of new course

    Initiated and funded by Air Force Operational Energy, the course covers topics such as aircraft physics, aircraft energy requirements including propulsion & mission systems and the technologies used to meet those requirements. Future technologies are also considered, along with operational factors

  • Shaw AFB Airmen, USCG hone joint water rescue skills

    Teaming up with U.S. Coast Guardsmen from Tybee Island Coast Guard Station, Georgia, the Shaw AFB SERE specialists traveled 25 nautical miles offshore to simulate downed pilot search and recovery efforts.

  • Red Flag-Alaska 19-2: Indo-Pacific ‘one team’ mentality

    Pilots, maintainers, joint terminal attack controllers and support personnel from the South Korea Air Force, the Japan Air Self-Defense Force and the Royal Thai Air Force train alongside their U.S. and British counterparts during Red Flag-Alaska 19-2 at Eielson Air Force Base and Joint Base

  • 815th Airlift Squadron delivers during Swift Response '19

    For exercise Swift Response '19, military members across two continents work as a team to conduct training to increase the participating nations’ readiness, capabilities and capacity to conduct full-spectrum military operations. They use combined training which fosters trust, increases

  • Weapons School: Multi-domain integration since 1996

    A leader in tactics, techniques and procedures development, the USAFWS has focused on integrating combat capabilities across domains since 1996 when the school’s Space Division was established. The division structure was dissolved in 2003 but integrating space operations as part of the USAFWS

  • European partnership flight visits Spangdahlem AB

    The visit, which happened during an African-European Partnership Flight program at Ramstein AB, was a multilateral, military-to-military engagement and security cooperation event focused on sharing best practices.

  • 167th AW, Argos, USDA continue black vulture research

    Since then, 164 black vultures have been fitted with red tags bearing an alphanumeric code and one black vulture now carries a telemetry device on its back, so the bird’s movements can be tracked and studied.

  • Travis AFB completes joint inspection with FEMA, ensures readiness

    Urban search and rescue is considered a "multi-hazard" discipline, as it may be needed for a variety of emergencies or disasters, including earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, dam failures, technological accidents, terrorist activities and hazardous materials releases.

  • Providing access to space through innovation

    The U.S. Air Force and Space Command are powered by innovation. Because of this, Vandenberg Air Force Base is continually making improvements to base facilities, equipment and the way Airmen and mission partners do their job in order to complete the space mission.