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U.S. Air Force News

  • Air Force responds to Hurricane Michael

    Hurricane Michael hit the Florida Panhandle as a Category 4 hurricane Oct. 10, with Tyndall Air Force Base directly in its path. Active-duty and National Guard service members were pre-positioned to provide assistance during the storm. And within hours after the hurricane ended, additional Airmen

  • Cyber Airmen fuel innovation

    Cyber Airmen assigned to the 557th Weather Wing recently teamed with the Defense Innovation Unit program to improve how airborne tankers’ scheduling.

  • Air Force, Hollywood partner during making of “First Man”

    Since the inception of the Air Force in 1947, film makers, novelists and even creators of video games have wanted to tell the tales of Airmen. The Air Force Public Affairs Entertainment Liaison office works to project and protect the image of the U.S. Air Force within the global entertainment

  • Air Force awards three Launch Service Agreements

    The U.S. Air Force announced today the award of three Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) Launch Service Agreements to (in alphabetical order) Blue Origin, Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems, and United Launch Alliance.

  • Air Force leaders say increased funding is improving readiness

    Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson and Chief of Staff of the Air Force Gen. David L. Goldfein thanked Congress for providing the resources necessary to restore the service’s readiness while testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Readiness and Management

  • 418th FLTS completes 10-year support of NASA Orion parachute tests

    For a decade the 418th Flight Test Squadron has supported NASA by supplying C-17 Globemaster IIIs and personnel to assist with the testing and qualifying of the Orion spacecraft’s parachute system. That support ended Sept. 12 with the success of the final parachute system test over the Army’s Yuma

  • Yesterday's Air Force: The pilot who killed King Kong

    There was only one man who took part in the hunt for Pancho Villa, the Doolittle Raid, the Flying Tigers, the Japanese surrender on the USS Missouri and even stopping King Kong’s rampage in New York City. He was one of the Air Force's most innovative, exceptional, and adventurous leaders. That man

  • AFIMSC observes two years of innovation, support to AF

    AFIMSC celebrated its second year of full operational capability Oct. 1. The standup represented the Air Force’s largest change in more than 20 years as the service centralized 155 installation and mission support functions previously executed by the major commands and Headquarters Air Force into a

  • Brothers carry on family legacy in aviation

    Decades ago, a father took his two young sons to the aviation museum at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. Although the father might have known it would be a great vacation for his family, he had no way of knowing the impact the trip would have on his sons’ future decision to join the Air Force.

  • 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.

  • Her last goodbye

    “The worst part of it all was just thinking about what she was thinking in those final moments as she was standing in the bathroom all alone, and I can’t imagine just how lonely she must’ve felt,” said Senior Airman Brianna Bowen, 1st Operations Support Squadron air traffic controller.

  • New tech to ease F-35A flight line maintenance

    Maintainers on Hill Air Force Base’s flight line are beginning to utilize new high-tech, hand-held tablets to work on the F-35A Lightning II, the United States’ most advanced multi-role fighter aircraft.

  • Air Force designates GO1 hypersonic flight research vehicle as X-60A

    The Air Force has designated the GOLauncher1 hypersonic flight research vehicle as X-60A. The vehicle is being developed by Generation Orbit Launch Services, Inc. under contract to the Air Force Research Laboratory, Aerospace Systems Directorate, High Speed Systems Division.

  • Seven nations, joint partners address great power competition at summit

    Headquarters Pacific Air Forces and Headquarters Air Force co-hosted more than 140 participants from seven countries, three services, nine major commands, three centers and Total Force representation for an Adaptive basing and Agile Combat Employment Summit at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam Sept. 10

  • Combat Support Wing exercise showcases agile lethality

    More than 150 Airmen from seven major commands participated in a combat support wing proof-of-concept exercise Sept. 5 to 19 that tested a small team’s capability to conduct agile downrange operations. The exercise, conducted at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, with forward deployments to Moody Air

  • Around the Air Force: CMSAF Talks Education / MH-139 Contract

    On this look Around the Air Force, Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force Kaleth Wright addresses education concerns, the first portion of the MH-139 contract is awarded, and Air Force officials are seeking nominations for the 70th annual Arthur S. Flemming Award. Hosted by Airman 1st Class Angelo

  • Showing how family strengthens service

    Col. David Mineau, director of Joint and National Security Council Matters, Headquarters Air Force, and his wife, Amy, received the 2017 General and Mrs. Jerome F. O'Malley Award from Chief of Staff of the Air Force Gen. David L. Goldfein during a ceremony at the Pentagon, Sept. 26, 2018.

  • Strengthening Ties with Bilateral Exchange

    For over 20 years, Yokota Air Base, Japan has participated in the Bilateral Exchange Program, in which Japan Air Self-Defense Force Airmen experience what it’s like to work as U.S. Air Force Airmen.

  • Rapid Antarctic airlift saves lives

    Just after completing the final flight of the Southern Hemisphere winter Antarctic season, the 304th Expeditionary Air Squadron was alerted there was a medical emergency at the National Science Foundation’s McMurdo Station Aug. 25.

  • Around the Air Force: CSAF AF update, Defender Challenge

    On this look Around the Air Force, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein gives an Air Force update, two new security force’s weapons are demonstrated at Defender Challenge and the first all Air Force Y-90 cancer treatment is conducted.

  • Chaplain supports security forces through ‘ministry of presence’

    His voice can be heard through the hallways of the 412th Security Forces Squadron headquarters. It is loud and commanding. Though his voice doesn’t instill a feeling of uneasiness or dread, rather it invokes a smile. When Airmen hear his laugh, they know the chaplain is in.

  • Edwards AFB creates aerial refueling test tool to save time, money

    Leadership across the Air Force want their workforce to focus on innovation every day, whether it is making things better, more efficient, or saving money. A small team at Edwards Air Force Base can now check off all those boxes with their custom-built test tool designed to cut down test costs and

  • Multi-domain command and control is coming

    In his remarks during this year’s Air Force Association’s Air, Space, and Cyber Conference in National Harber, Maryland, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David L. Goldfein explained the importance of Multi-Domain Command and Control in executing the nation’s next fight.

  • Indo-Pacom Wraps Up Valiant Shield 2018

    U.S. military forces from the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command wrapped up exercise Valiant Shield 2018, Sept. 23rd, around the Marianas Island Range Complex and on Guam.

  • Not Forgotten

    When you walk into many dining facilities in the Air Force, you see it in the corner or off to the side: the lone chair and place setting. In the hurries of our day, we become numb to the sight of it: the Prisoner of War/Missing in Action table with a setting for someone who has never returned.

  • Air Force Technical Applications Center uses failure to evolve

    In 2013, AFTAC formed an Innovation Lab to find ways to improve and accomplish their mission by developing concepts and technologies faster and cheaper. But the number one reason for establishing the lab was to enable innovators within the center to take calculated risks and evolve from failure to

  • PEO Digital will change global AF software acquisition

    Dr. Will Roper, the Air Force's senior civilian acquisition leader, redesignated Program Executive Office Battle Management as PEO Digital, to be headquartered at Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts, Sept. 17.

  • Air Force realigns Holloman AFB under AETC

    The 49th Wing at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico, and all co-located units, will realign from Air Combat Command to Air Education and Training Command effective Oct. 1.

  • The Flying First

    That young pilot, Capt. Benjamin Foulois, was in one of eight Curtis JN-3 “Jenny” biplanes participating in the search. The planes were powered with 90-horsepower engines that had a rough time just staying airborne, but they led a reconnaissance mission to kick off Gen. John J. Pershing’s punitive

  • CMSAF Wright: The Airmen We Need must be resilient

    In order to win tomorrow’s war, defend the homeland and remain a safe and secure nuclear deterrent, Airmen must be well trained, well led, agile and resilient, according to the Air Force’s most senior enlisted leader.Building upon Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson’s discussion of the “Air

  • Panel discusses total force integration during AFA

    Former Secretary of the Air Force F. Whitten Peters moderated a panel of senior leaders examining the total force during the Air Force Association Air, Space, and Cyber Conference in National Harbor Sept. 18, 2018. The panel focused on Air Force integration of Guard and Reserve personnel into

  • AFCENT command and control operations weather the storm

    The force smashed into their northern and western flank, but still, the Airmen stayed focused on the U.S. Central Command mission, a fight thousands of miles away. The opposing force was no enemy, however. These Airmen of the 609th Air Operations Center, Detachment 1, Shaw Air Force Base, South

  • Goldfein delivers 2018 AF update during AFA

    Chief of Staff of the Air Force Gen. David L. Goldfein delivered his speech at the Air Force Association’s Air, Space and Cyber Conference, Sept. 18, 2018, emphasizing how the service must prepare the Air Force We Need and present it to combatant commanders to compete, deter and win.

  • The Force We Present: Future of AF operations

    As the Air Force highlights revitalizing squadrons and the need to improve readiness to contend with near peer adversaries, the Air Force deputy chief of staff of operations spoke to an audience about “The Force We Present” and the necessity for coming changes in military operations during the Air

  • SecAF Wilson provides Air Force update

    Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson presented an update of the state of the Air Force Sept. 17, during the 2018 Air Force Association Air, Space and Cyber Conference in National Harbor.Wilson discussed restoring force readiness, space operations and the future of the Air Force during her

  • US Naval Academy tests waters with Hurricane Hunters

    When the subject of summer internships comes up, thoughts of fetching coffee and doing paperwork or answering phone calls come to mind.What does not come to mind is working 10,000 feet in the air in an Air Force Reserve WC-130J Hercules flying through a hurricane for the sake of research.

  • 22nd annual USAF Marathon hosts international field

    This year marks the 22nd annual running of the U.S. Air Force Marathon. The warm and humid weather didn’t stop over 15,000 runners, walkers and spectators from all 50 states and more than ten foreign countries, from taking part at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air

  • “Memphis Belle” exhibit opens at National Museum of the USAF

    Through the cockpit windscreen, Capt. Robert Morgan saw flashes of light from the wings and engine cowling of a German Focke-Wulf Fw 190 at his 12 o’clock and closing at an incredible rate. Each wink of light from the fighter’s wing root meant another 20mm cannon shell was heading directly at his

  • Squadrons 'beating heart' of Air Force

    In the Air Force, squadrons are the basic level of operations, its “beating heart” as Chief of Staff of the Air Force Gen. David Goldfein calls them.To better understand how significant the squadron is to the Air Force, it’s also important to know what a squadron is.

  • 'Candy Bomber' delivered chocolate, hope to Berlin

    Seventy years ago, with Adolf Hitler’s crumbled Third Reich still fresh in their memories and Joseph Stalin’s Soviet Union having a choke hold on their future, Berlin’s children were starving.

  • Alaska ANG mobilizes in advance of Hurricane Florence

    Thirty-six Alaska Air National Guardsmen from the 176th Wing, and approximately three short tons of Alaska Air Guard equipment, departed Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson Sept. 12 to assist with emergency response efforts for Hurricane Florence.

  • Hurricane Hunters fly Florence, conduct search and rescue

    Members of the U.S. Air Force Reserve’s 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron assisted the U.S. Coast Guard with a search and rescue mission Sept. 11, locating a white 41-foot Bali sailing catamaran after completing their mission for Hurricane Florence.The vessel was making a trans-Atlantic voyage

  • Air Force, Navy announce their Joint Physiological Episodes Action Team

    The Air Force and Navy announce their Joint Physiological Episodes Action Team, or J-PEAT, Sept. 11 at the Pentagon, Arlington. In a collaborative effort of Force Integration, the Air Force will also rename their Unexplained Physiological Events Integration Team to the AF-PEAT.

  • Passing the torch: Ex-commando inspires youth for special operations

    While most people spend their off time catching up on their favorite shows, playing video games, or catching up on social media, one Reserve Airman and clinical nurse with the 920th Aeromedical Staging Squadron, spends his evenings training the future men and women of special operations.

  • Moody A-10 engine maintainers make history

    For the first time, Moody’s 23rd Maintenance Squadron’s propulsion flight accomplished an unprecedented feat by ensuring every TF34 engine in their fleet is repaired to serviceable status.

  • Augmenting the AOR: Cable Dawgs connect service members to the fight

    Communications, in some shape or form, touch every single part of the Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve mission. From advanced air-strike capabilities to a simple phone call home; a simple fiber cable, often less than .05 millimeters in diameter, can change a missed opportunity

  • UPE Integration Team lead visits Wright-Patt

    Brig. Gen. Edward L. Vaughan, the new Air Force Unexplained Physiological Events Integration Team lead, visited Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Aug. 27 to tour the 711th Human Performance Wing’s Onboard Oxygen Generating System lab and learn how 711HPW is collaborating with Air Force Life Cycle

  • History office plays key role in OCP emblem-to-patch conversion

    Since early recorded history, warring tribes often carried banners or flags marked with emblems to represent factions and motivate their warriors to fight for the cause. It is to this historical tradition that we can trace the evolution of military emblems and patches, said AFMC historian Jack Waid,

  • ANG general to lead UPE Integration Team

    What do unexplained physiological events and a recent promotion have in common? The answer is Edward Vaughan who recently promoted to brigadier general and named by the active-duty component to lead a UPE integration team.

  • AFCENT changes command in historic ceremony

    Lt. Gen. Joseph T. Guastella Jr. assumed command of U.S. Air Forces Central Command from Lt. Gen. Jeffrey L. Harrigian Aug. 30, 2018. Army Gen. Joseph L. Votel, U.S. Central Command commander, presided over the ceremony, which was held at AFCENT’s forward headquarters at Al Udeid Air Base for the

  • Why I serve: The Kalkbrenner family

    As of 2017, approximately two million people currently serve in the U.S. military with millions of veterans serving before them in the several hundred year history of the country’s armed forces. All of these service members chose to don their respective service’s uniform for varying reasons. Many

  • Chill, cryogenics has what you need

    Providing the base and various other units on the island with cryogenic products – whether it be in a liquid or gaseous form – is the plant’s priority.

  • EOD tech draws inspiration from family members

    While many would consider the lifestyle of an EOD Airman a stressful and arduous task to undertake, to Tech. Sgt. Jaqueline Risley, 386th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron EOD equipment non-commissioned officer in charge, this is everything she has ever dreamed of.

  • AFTAC helps break the 'STEM mold'

    In 1976, esteemed historian and author Laurel Thatcher Ulrich wrote a book entitled, “Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History.” The premise of her work was to shine a light on famous women throughout history who challenged the way things were done. While the title may seem to be a modern-day rallying

  • USAF supports premier RAF exercise

    The U.S. Air Force’s 492nd Fighter Squadron sent several F-15E Strike Eagles to support the Royal Air Force’s premier air combat training exercise, Typhoon Warrior, Aug. 14-23, at RAF Coningsby, England.

  • Tech. Sgt. John Chapman inducted into Hall of Heroes at Pentagon

    Nearly two decades after the gallant actions that cost him his life and earned him the nation's highest military award, Chapman’s name was unveiled by his widow, Valerie Nessel, Secretary of the Air Force Heather A. Wilson, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David L. Goldfein and Chief Master Sgt. of the

  • Advanced training prepares boom operators for future

    Within the past year, KC-10 Extender boom operators have been receiving cutting-edge, three-dimensional simulator training and life-size cargo load training that benefits the boom operator career field around the world.

  • Passing the guidon: Ray takes command of AFGSC

    Gen. Timothy Ray took command of Air Force Global Strike Command from Gen. Robin Rand, outgoing AFGSC commander, during a ceremony, Aug. 21. He is the newest leader of the Air Force’s portion of the nuclear enterprise, which maintains the nation's only force of Minuteman III intercontinental

  • Big Brother finds enrichment in giving back

    He was only 3 years old when he unexpectedly lost his father to a heart attack in 1986. Although too young to understand how to grieve for his dad, Richard Cooper’s life changed in an instant.

  • Exercise Pitch Black 2018 strengthens alliances

    Exercise Pitch Black 2018 is a Royal Australian Air Force-hosted biennial multinational large force employment exercise held from July 27 through Aug. 17. This year’s event, the largest since its inception, involves 16 nations, 140 aircraft and more than 4,000 personnel – approximately 150 of which

  • The ART of training the total force

    In July, the 480th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Wing’s ART held a Total Force Integration Conference at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, allowing ART members from throughout the geographically separated Wing to connect for three days with over 160 peers from other services and nations,